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CHURCH LIFE 



-IN 



COLONIAL M^RYUND 



•B Y 



REV. THEODORE O' GAMBRALL, A. M. 



GEORGE LYCETT, 

No. 44 LEXINGTON SfBEET, 

1885 



3451JL 




TO MY FRIENDS, 

THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. JAMES' PARISH, ANNE ARUN- 
DEL COUNTY, MARYLAND. 



THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, IN RECOG- 
NITION OF THEIR MANY MARKS OF KINDNESS 
SHOWN THROUGH MANY YEARS. 

T. C. G. 

MAY 1st, 1885. 



/I 



PREFACE 



The author, in offering this volume to the con- 
sideration of the public, does not desire that it 
lall be looked upon as a history of the Church 
• Maryland through the period which it covers, 
ut rather as one among many aids to the writing 
}t that history which is yet to be. He is aware 
of the existence of a considerable body of mate- 
rials which he has not been able to utilize, and 
he has been made very conscious through all his 
labor in this connection, that both the engrossing 
nature of his i^arochial duties and the remoteness 
of his residence from all literary centers, would 
render him unfit for the ambitious plan of the 
history of the church in this province. The title 
of the work expresses its object, Clmrcli Life in 
Colonial Maryland ; for the writer's purpose has 
been, by the blending of parochial records with 
documentary and other evidence of a more gen- 
eral character, along with a continuous glance at 
the world outside the colony, to give as near 
as may be, both a peculiar and also a rela- 
tive insight into the condition of the Church of 
our fathers. How far he has succeeded in this 
purpose he must leave it to others to determine. 



(j CHURCH LIFE 

The author feels, however, that he has some 
special qualifications for this work. A Maryland 
Churchman by birth, he is proud of her tradi- 
tions, and proud of her eminent position. He 
also feels the heartiest sympathy with that tone 
of Churchmanship which permeates all parts of 
the commonwealth, which had its origin in those 
days when the Church was the Cliurch in the- 
minds and mouths of all, when dissent was a 
small faction w^orshipping in its chapels, and 
when the parson was the generally accepted 
presentation of Christ's duly ordained minister. 
That is Maryland Churchmanship ; and it has 
been fostered and preserved through all the older 
rural districts of Maryland, where the old temples 
still stand, and where the children of a long line 
of fathers still occupy the soil. 

Another qualification also, he feels that he has 
in being the rector of one of the first parishes 
in MaryLand ; first, principally because it was 
created along with those that were laid out under 
the earliest act of establishment ; first, because 
from that earlier day it has been blessed, almost 
without exception, with a long line of ministers 
who have furthered the kingdom and done uv 
dishonor to their holy calling, the parish thus 
enjoying an even life of high tenor ; first, because 
those who worship within its sanctuary, love the 
Holy Name, and are thankful for their Churchly 
inheritance ; and among the first, because though 
resources have been severely crippled, and num- 
bers sadly reduced by untoward circumstances, 
their is a willingness to help build up Zion, to 
rex>air the waste places, to make the desert rejoice 
and blossom as the rose. 



IN CO L ON I A L MA R YLA NJ). 7 

Presenting, therefore bi^ claims for attention, 
he prays for consideration, and trusts that the 
effect of his labor may be to correct misappre- 
hension, and to reveal to many the true historical 
position of their church in this diocese, fostering 
thereby their zeal in its behalf. 



CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CHURCH BEFORE 1692. 
INTRODUCTOKY. 

The history of a parish in Maryland cannot 
properly go back beyond the year 1692 when the 
first act of the Colonial assembly was passed for 
the establishment of the church of England 
in the now royal province. Still it wonld 
be erroneous to suppose that there had been 
no existence of the church in the colony 
before. Rather the evidences are various that 
from the foundation of the colony there had been 
many members of that church among the settlers, 
some of them very influential , while also in the 
Virginia settlement on Kent Island, which had 
been established in 1629, years before Lord Balti- 
more's emigrants had arrived in the colony, the 
church of England services were conducted by a 
duly ordained minister. Lord Baltimore's en- 
deavors had been strenuous to secure a large 
body of colonists, as the "Account" published 
with the Father White papers shows, and his in- 
vitation was in no way limited to the members of 
his own church, as in the nature of things it 
could not have been. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 9 

The existence of this Protestant element also 
soon began to show itself, for though we do not 
have any early notice of a duly established con- 
gregation ministered to by a clergyman, we find 
Protestants assembling together for mutual edifi- 
cation, as in the case of the servants of Corn- 
wallis in 16:^s ; while also in 1642 we find the small 
colony disturbed by an attempt to deprive certain 
'•Protestant Catholics'' of the use of their chapel 
and to despoil them of the books of the same, a 
term of designation which Bozman, the chief 
historian of that period, thinks can only mean 
members of the Clmrcli of England. Indeed the 
most recent light thrown upon the history of that 
time, that from the Jesuit Fathers, whose records 
in the matter are now^ in hand, shows that beyond 
all question from the beginning the Protestants 
were in the majorit}^; the provincial, Henry Moore, 
writing to Rome in 1642, saying "The affair w^as 
surrounded with many and great difficulties, for 
in leading the colony to Maryland, by far the 
greater part was heretics." Also we are told by 
the same authority that the assembly which met 
in 1638, in which all the freemen couJd be present 
eitlier personally or by proxies, "was composed 
with few exceptions of heretics ;" of wliom pro- 
bably the larger part were of the Church of 
England,seeing that persons of Puritan views w^ho 
would seek an asylum, would rather prefer the 
northern colonies where everything was con- 
ducted so much more to their li^^ing. Consistent 
only with this fact of the majority of the colonists 
being Protestants, is the progress of things from 
the year 1648. For though up to this time Lord 
Baltimore had consulted his private preferences 



10 CHURCH LIFE 

in choosing members of his church for the offices 
of the colony, yet now we find him aj)pointing a 
Protestant governor and a Protestant council, 
with also a Protestant secretary of State ; while 
also we find the embodiment of the new feature 
of general toleration in the oath of office, both of 
the governor and council, with particular definite- 
ness in the former in favor of Roman Catholics; 
and the enactment by the assembly, on presenta- 
tion by the Proprietary, of what is entitled an 
Act concerning Religion (1649) in which toleration 
is provided for all believers. 

These things coniirm the previous evidence, if 
any confirmation were necessary. Maryland 
continued to be a refuge for Roman Catholics. 
Roman priests, especially the Jesuit Fathers, 
continued to be very active, many being sent 
over to the colony from time to time, though 
sometimes giving great trouble to the authorities, 
from the extravagance of their pretensions. All 
the way along through the whole colonial history 
members of this church ever wore a threatening 
aspect to the minds of all Protestants, and jealousy 
of them gave a war cry that could excite the 
fiercest passions. Their numbers were always- 
such as to make them a force and sometimes a 
terror ; and in the many risings of the people 
during the first lifty-five years of the colony, 
dread of them was a largely prevailing cause of 
fear. 

In 1656 one of Lord Baltimore's friends, Ham- 
mond, writing in his behalf, states that at that 
time the population of the colony was composed 
of Conformists, non- Conformists, and a few Pa- 
pists, the first in which catalogue being members 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 11 

of the Church of England. The First minister 
of this church as far is known (not including the 
one previously settled on Kent Island) came into 
the colony about 1650, with his wife and 
daughters, and engaged in ministerial labors. 
The evidences, however, are that he was compell- 
ed to seek subsistence in part from sources other 
than the offerings of the people, a fact that has 
always held, not only in new countries, but in 
those where the population is sparse. The sup- 
port and prosperity of the church in rural districts, 
have always been dependent upon some form of 
endowment or external aid. Lord Baltimore, in 
defending himself from charges made in 1676, 
asserted that the clergy then in the province 
had each of them a plantation, which probably 
they had entered and possessed on the same terms 
as the other private individuals. For as yet 
there were no parishes in existence, and besides, 
there was extreme jealousy felt against church 
or other corporations acquiring property, and it 
was forbidden without special license ob- 
tained from the Lord Proprietary. The 
statute of Mortmain was made to bear on the 
matter, the anxiety of Lord Baltimore and 
the colonial authorities being chiefly excited by 
the conduct of the Jesuits who took up immense 
tracts of land for their society, though it was 
held for them and was taken up in the name of 
private individuals. They still hold a large por- 
tion of this their former possession. Altogether 
at this time their relations in the colony were ex- 
ceedingly strained, their assumptions of i^re- 
rogative being very extravagant, even to the 
point of independence of lay jurisdiction. Their 



12 CHVECH LIFE 

own authorities in England disapproved of their 
presumption, and Lord Baltimore, by consistency 
and resolution, sustained as he was by members 
of his own church, finally succeeded in maintain- 
ing his rights against their unwarrantable en- 
croachments. 

The facilities, however, for acquiring an estate 
in the province were so great that no one needed 
to suffer. For according to the conditions of plan- 
tation published by Lord Baltimore in 1636, after 
the year 1635 one thousand acres of land might 
be held for a yearly rental of twenty shillings, 
payable in the commodities of the province, and 
fifty acres for twelve pence, land being granted 
to applicants according to the number of the la- 
borers brought into the colony. Under these 
conditions any minister could secure for himself 
a personal estate,^ and thus be guaranteed a main- 
tenance. We are told, however, of two endow- 
ments that were created about the year 1676, one 
in Baltimore county and one in St. Marj^'s, in the 
latter case the corporation of the county being 
made the custodian of the fund. The clergy of 
the church began now to increase in numbers. 
For in 1676, in the answer above noted, we find 
Lord Baltimore declaring that there were four 
in the colony ; a small number for the vast 
amount of work to be done. How far these were 
an honor to the church or efficacious for its be- 
neficent purposes is a question ; for of two of 
those, probably included in the four, John Coode 
and John Yeo, the history is, that the former was 
afterwards convicted of atheism and blasphemy, 
and that the latter was, to say the least of him, 
a turbulent man. There began now also a de- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 13 

mand for miniisrers. In 1676 the latter of the 
above parties represented to the Archbishop of 
Canterbury in the strongest language, the great 
need of the colony for a duly provided for min- 
istry to prevent the falling away of many church- 
men to Popery, Quakerism or fanaticism, and to 
control the wide spread disregard of the ordi- 
nances of religion and of the i»roprieties of moral- 
ity. He describes the colony as a Sodom of un- 
cleanness and a pest house of iniquity. Nor was 
this the only demand for Church of England 
Clergymen. For in the year 1685 we find Mary 
Taney, wife of the sherilf of Calvert Co., and 
ancestress of the late Chief Justice of the United 
States, addressing a letter to the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, in which she pleads for means to 
erect a church and in part to support a minister, 
founding her plea upon her anxiety for her own 
family's welfare and that of her neighbors, dread- 
ing less they might otherwise be condemned to 
infidelity or apostasy. She had previously peti- 
tioned Charles the II for relief, who had sent 
over a minister, together with a number of Bibles 
and other church books, and also in this case her 
petition was received with favor and a clergyman 
sent over. Nor were her anxieties and those of 
Mr. Yeo and others groundless ; for in the re- 
ports of the Jesuit Fathers through this period 
we find as the fruit of their labors seventy 
brought over to their church in 1672, in 1673 
twenty-eight, in 1674 thirty-four, while there was 
also a mission carried on by the order of St. 
Francis. 

The times of trouble were now, however, set- 
ting in upon the colony, religious matters being 



14 CHURCH LIFE 

the great disturbing cause. The ferment that 
had been created in England by the report of a 
Popish ph)t, in which Titus Gates was the chief 
agitator, and used by such men as the Earl of 
Shaftesbury as a tool for political ends, spread 
also to the colony, and under Fendall and Coode 
the "No-Popery" cry excited a revolt in 1681. 
This was successfully quelled, but as the home 
country continued to be in a state of doubt and 
anxiety about the Protestant religion, the i)eople 
not believing in Charles the Second's faithfulness 
to the Church, and knowing that his prospective 
successor, afterwards James the Second, was an 
avowed papist, so the province of Maryland was 
disturbed ; the more particularly so, because 
Lord Baltimore was a member of the Roman 
Church. This was a natural cause for suspicion 
and alarm throughout all this period when the 
pretensions of the Roman Church to the right of 
interfering with states, were so much more avow- 
ed than now, and when temporal rulers could be 
found, under blind religious zeal, to proceed to 
such extremities as that of the Revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes with its fearfully ruinous conse- 
quences ; and when the recollections of- the horri 
ble excesses of the thirty years war had not 
passed from the memories of living men, and 
when the echoes of the voice of Cromwell were 
still heard amongst the Alps shielding the hun- 
ted Waldensians from the blast of papal fury. 
Lord Baltimore, neither Cecilias nor Charles, de- 
served the susyjicion ; for both were liberal mind- 
ed men, and both of them received from the 
Assembly of the province, testimonials of confi- 
dence and esteem, the former in 1671 and 1672, 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 15 

and the latter in 1676, 1682 and 1688. Still pre- 
judices are generally ungovernable and suspicions 
incapable of entire restraint, and the dread oi 
popery and of the effect of its teachings was in 
the very atmosphere of that time. In 1684 the 
Proprietary was ordered to put all offices in the 
hands of Protestants, though he showed the 
king that all the most important offices we^^e in 
their hands already, and especially such offices 
as controlled the military establishment of the 
colony. 

In 1681 the population numbered over 20,000, 
and according to an estimate at the time there 
were thirty Protestants to one Papist, a disxDro- 
portion that might be supposed sufficient to give 
assurance to the majority. Lord Baltimore's 
deputies, however, managed, by some peculiar 
gift, to excite the anxieties of this body, already 
sensitive enough, so that when William of 
Orange was reported about to invade England, 
the fear of the people was that Maryland was to 
be placed in antagonism to this movement, which 
was felt to be, in the colony as well as in Great 
Britain, the only thing that could preserve the 
religion and liberties of the country. For the 
deputies of Lord Baltimore not only failed to 
proclaim the joint sovereigns when they were 
raised to the throne, but previously had put the 
colony in a state of defense by collecting arms 
and other materials of war, as if to resist any at- 
tempt that might be made to reduce the province 
to the new obedience. " No Popery" therefore 
again rang forth as a cry, an association was 
formed, the citizens were called upon to take up 
arms, the dej)uties were dispossessed of their 



16 CHURCH LIFE 

authority, a convention was assembled, and a 
petition and address justifying their proceedings 
V7ere drawn up and j^resented to the king. 

Tliis was the Protestant Revolution whose ob- 
ject was, as stated by its friends, "The defense of 
the Protestant Religion, and the asserting the 
right of king William and queen Mary to the 
province of Maryland and all the English domin- 
ions.*' The convention^ when it assembled in 
1689, made many charges against the manage- 
ment of the colony, alleging excessive Jesuit in- 
tiuence over the officers administering the gover- 
ni'mt, that the churches were all appropriated 
tj the use of the Popish idolatary, and that 
under the permission or connivance of the gover- 
ment, murders and outrages of all kinds were 
perpetrated by the Papists upon the Protestants. 
They charged an arbitrary exercise of power 
against the Proprietary and that he had ignored, 
as far as possible, the soverei<j:nty possessed by 
the crown, allegiance to the Proprietary being 
alone required in the colony. And they declared 
themselves discharged from all fidelity to the 
chief magistrates of the province because they 
had endeavored to deprive them of their lives, 
prox>erty and liberties, which they were bound 
to protect. 

The King of course listened to all this, and the 
consequence was that Lord Baltimore was de 
prived of the functions of government, of which 
he remained disinherited for over twenty-five 
years, till 1715. and the colony was erected into 
a Royal province, with writs running in the 
King's name, and the governor and othe^' officers 
appointed by his authority. The private rights, 



1 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 17 

however, of Lord Baltimore were coDtinued to 
him, together with his income from the land, 
whether his own extensive manors or the quit- 
rents due him from the settlers. He was the 
private owner of the w^hole domain. The pre- 
rogatives and emoluments of office he was 
stripped of, the excessive sensitiveness of the 
people rendering it impolitic, if not extremely 
dangerous to leave authority in his hands or to 
force back upon the citizens an administratioj: 
which they had so forcibly disallowed. The year 
before the final rujDture the President of the 
Assembly had openly drawn a picture of the 
prevailing immorality of the colony in respect of 
drunkenness, adultery. Sabbath breaking and 
swearing, that, having the endorsement of the 
lower house, shows that Lord Baltimore's influ- 
ence in the administration of the colony had not 
been in the highest degree successful, and that 
radical measures had now become necessary. 
The establishment afterwards sprang into exist- 
ence in answer to that need as the one thing- 
most likely to prove efficacious; and doubtless it 
did so in an eminent degree, for from the begin- 
ning, in addition to the silent influence of the 
church, we And its authorities doing all in their 
power under the law to suppress immorality. 



18 



CHUBCH LIFE 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH. 

Under the Royal government of the colony the 
recond act of the first assembly, convened in 
1692, was that providing for the establishment 
of the Church of England, nnder which func- 
tions and prerogatives were given the said 
church endowing it with great and exclusive 
privileges. Nor are we to be surprised at such 
a measure; for the establishment of the church 
was looked upon throughout the world as legiti- 
mate and proper, such ideas coming down un- 
questioned from the remotest Christian antiquity. 
And even among the barbarians, as well as 
among the heathen of civilized states, it appeared 
to the rulers of kingdoms, with their gener- 
ally arbitary power, to be only proper that 
they should provide for the support of religion, 
and in various ways control and direct its minis- 
trations. Men had not yet outgrown this 
notion, and so during the period of the Common- 
wealth in England the Presbyterian church was 
established, and in New England, and in New 
York after a manner, as well as in V^irginia and 
the more southern colonies, establishments were 
now the rule. There is no great wonder, there- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 19 

fore, that the colonists in Maryland proceeded to 
this step, in as much also as it appeared to them 
to be the only means to ends they fondly desired, 
the restraint of the Roman Catholic Church and 
the correction and improvement of the morals of 
the colony. For one of the assigned causes for 
their overthrow of the Proprietary's authority 
was the inlluence the Jesuits were able to wield 
in the government of the colony, a cause for 
alarm which may or may not have existed. One 
thing the people knew, the Roman priests were 
exceedingly energetic; and to counteract their 
influence, on the one side, as they won away Pro- 
testants in the dearth of spiritual ministration, 
and on the other, to save the people from the 
depths of immorality, into which from the same 
cause they were falling, provision was made 
under law by the unanimous voice of the repre- 
sentatives of the inhabitants, for the support of 
a Protestant ministry; and the Church of Eng- 
land was chosen because it had the affections 
and loyalty of by far the largest part of the 
people of the colony. All differences were sunk 
in the Assembly under the sense of a great con- 
straining necessity. 

Much has been said about the ingratitude of 
this act and the consequent repression of the 
Roman Catholics, by whom, as is alleged, great 
liberality had formerly been shown; and cer- 
tainly the thing is against all our x^resent Amer- 
ican" notions But the whole matter of the 
toleration secured in 1649, and what motives 
may have impelled the then Proprietary to lay it 
before the Assembl}^ are too fully presented to 
us now to justify any further talk about Protes 



20 CHURCH LIFE 

tant ingratitude. For as we have seen, 
there is the best evidence that the Protestants 
were in a majority in the very lirst body of emi- 
grants, a prej)onderance in strength which they 
always preserved ; and any toleration that had 
ever been in the colony to this time had rather 
been by them than of them. The act must be 
looked at in the leading question of how far an 
establishment is ever justifiable. The Roman 
Catholics had been tolerated down this far in 
Maryland history. Consideration for them was 
opposed by the English ideas of that day. They 
dared not have established their own church, 
even had they had the power, or in any way 
have repressed persons of the Protestant faith. 
Lord Baltimore ever felt the force cf this, and 
was earnest to impress upon the powers at home, 
that Roman Catholic as he was, and associated 
with the Jesuits as he was, equal liberties Avere 
enjoyed by all. A royal proclamation or an act 
of Parliament could at any time have deprived 
him of power in the case ; as was done in the 
days of Cromwell, and again when Charles II. 
directed him to put all offices in the hands of 
Protestants, and finally when he was deprived 
of all government jurisdiction at the time of the 
Protestant Revolution. Also in the days of 
James II. the writ of quo warranto sued out by 
his royal majesty, made not only Lord Balti- 
more tremble, but the holders of many other 
charters besides. There was no ingratitude at 
all in the case. Neither Lord Baltimore nor his 
church ever had any j^ower to establish their 
form of religion or to disfranchise other bodies 
than their own : and had they had the power 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 21 

they would not for a moment have dared to 
exercise it. The thunders of royal wrath and 
Parliamentary indignation would have over- 
whelmed the attempt in an instant. There was 
no ingratitude in the case ; while we can sympa- 
thize with the colonists in their laying hold on 
the only available means of repressing a 
faction whose extravagant pretensions had, 
even in Maryland, given so much trouble to 
Lord Baltimore in the past, and whose princi- 
ples had brought such trouble and mischief ujion 
the world. For it was only seven year before 
this that Louis XIY. had revoked the Edict of 
Nantes which wrought intolerable and wide- 
spread ruin upon hundreds of thousands of 
Huguenots, depriving them in many instances of 
life and in almost all of property, and taking 
away rights dearer than life or property. It was 
the personal act of the king indeed, but received 
the approval both of the country and the church. 
It was at this time also that James the Second's 
conduct manifested all the qualities that the 
Roman Church might tolerate, violating his 
promises to maintain the Church of England, 
introducing the rites and customs of the Roman 
Communion, endeavoring to put places of trust 
and power in the hands of the members of that 
profession, seeking to ride down all law by sus- 
pending, by edict, every statute that might 
imjDede his will, and imprisoning the best and 
most exalted men of the realm whose faithful 
loyalty as citizens and ministers of the gospel 
prevented them from becoming the weak and 
pliable instruments for his tyrannical and arbi- 
trary purposes. These things we must re- 



22 CHURCH LIFE 

member ; nor can we forget the great agitation 
concerning the Popish Plot, which tliough 
granted, as we now see it, to have been a marvel- 
ous extravagance, still had some ground to rest 
on, and was lirmly believed in by almost every 
one of that day. 

Because of these things we can sympathize 
with the colonists of that time, and the more so 
when we recollect what the pretensions of the 
Koman communion were in regard to civil rulers 
and what had been attempted against the liber- 
ties of England in the days both of James I. and 
of Elizabeth, and that there was no place in Eu- 
rope where the Roman Church was in the ascen- 
dency, where there was any toleration of diver- 
gent opinions. The mountains of the south of 
France were now ringing with the cries of the 
Camisards, struggling heroically against fearful 
odds for home and liber tj^ and life, and the 
brutality of the house of Savoy, shown in the 
interests of religion, had not been forgotten. The 
true i)icture of the times was fearfullj^ vivid 
to the minds of Maryland men at that period. 
With our American notions in this nineteenth 
century we disapprove of establishments alto- 
gether, and certainlj^ such exclusive ones as that 
attempted in 1692. But the men of the seven- 
teenth century were wise in their generation. 
They were educated by the circumstances of 
their day. Only the times have changed and 
we are changed with them. 

The colonists, however, did not immediately 
succeed in their attempt. The law was not ap- 
proved by the home government, which was nec- 
cessary now for its rinal validity, as in former 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 23 

days the ai3proval of the Proprietary had been 
necessary. The cause of this non-approval was 
that the king regarded it as too exclusive ; for 
brought up with his liberal Dutch notions he 
was far in advance of most 2)ersons in his day. 
Again and again was the law enacted with modi- 
fications, but as often rejected, until the year 
1702, when Dr. Bray, the great friend of Mary- 
land, and commissary, having returned to Eng- 
land, obtained permission to have an acceptable 
law drawn up, with the assurance that having 
been duly passed by the colonial Assembly it 
should stand approved. It was done, and in 
that year the Church of England was iinally 
established in Maryland. The great hindrance 
all along had been the difficulty raised chiefly 
by the Quakers, though the Roman Catholics 
also exerted quietly some influence. The true 
position of the former had come now to be better 
understood, and the days of their persecution 
were over ; so that the king confirmed the Mary- y. 
land act with these words, "Have the Quakers -^ 
the benefit of a toleration 'i Let the established 
church have an established maintenance." To 
the north of Maryland there had been granted 
to William Penn an extensive tract, on which 
many of his co-religionists were settled, and over 
which he had established a provincial government. 
Also by the toleration act passed in England in 
16S9 the Friends were granted freedom of worship. <^ 

That they should oppose, therefore, the act of 
establishment that would restrict their liberties 
was only natural, especially as now they formed 
a very considerable portion of the population, 
reckoned at this time at one-twelfth, among 



/ 



34 CHURCH LIFE 

wliom were included some of the most intelligent 
and thrifty citizens of the province. This is 
proven by various circumstances, as by the 
names of the j)ersons who were members of the 
meeting, by the influence they exerted with the 
authorities, by their readiness and boldness in 
discussion, and by their threat to prosecute any 
priest or magistrate who should marry any Qua- 
ker children without their parents' or guardians' 
consent. This was done at a yearly meeting held 
in 16S8, and of itself shows how secure they felt 
themselves to be. Their opposition w^e have seen 
w^as influential, but it was not Anally effectual ; 
for the king was content to secure for them the 
toleration of their separate assemblages, while 
they were required, along with all other persons, 
to contribute according to law to the support of 
the established church. For the act as Anally 
passed, provided that the church of England 
should be established, and that for its support 
there should be levied annually a tax of forty 
pounds of tobacco per poll uj)on all the taxables 
of the colony; to be collected by the sheriff'. The 
appointment of ministers to parishes Avas to 
be by the governor without appeal, induction 
being in his hands; the minister was to keep and 
provide for a clerk out of his income. Other sec- 
tions of the law regarded marriages, and a table 
declaring who might marry was to be set up in 
the Churches. Only a minister could marry 
when there was one resident, his fee being Ave 
shillings sterling. The number of vestrymen 
was set at six at the least, two to be dropped 
every year. By a subsequent law in 1730 the 
two eldest in office were to be dropped and not 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 25 

to be liable again for tliree years. The minister 
was also a vestryman. A register of births, 
marriages and burials was to be kept, and by 
several clauses of the law the vestry was required 
to meet on a certain day in each month, the time 
fixed once for all ''to prevent surprise." Pro- 
vision was made for the current expenses of the 
parish, to be levied by the county courts. Per- 
sons refusing to become wardens were fined one 
thousand pounds of tobacco, to go to the king, 
a stronger assurance that the fine would be 
collected. No minister could hold more than 
two parishes, nor could he hold them without 
the consent of the vestries of both and the ap- 
pointment of the ordinary. The vestry had the 
power of appointing lay readers during a 
vacancy, who were to take the oaths with which 
every office was surrounded in those days. The 
lay readers received compensation. A vestry- 
man could be removed if he neglected his duties, 
and parishioners had the riglit to inspect the 
vestry books and to appeal to the governor and 
council against vestry acts. "Py th^ twpntj^-tir.'^t 
section of the law^ Quakers and other dissenters 



were to have the benefit'~~6f~TlTeTolera!ion act, 
while their j)lacBs o f w^orshi p_Avere-4^^qu4red to 
be reported and a register of them kept. It will 
be observed that persons refusing to serve as 
wardens were to be fined, while there was no 
such provision covering the case of x>6rsons 
elected to the vestry. The duties of the wardens 
were in some degree the more onerous, they 
being conservators of the peace about the church. 
And so compulsion in their case was felt to be 
necessary. It was rather taken for granted that 



20 CHURCH LIFE 

a man elected vestryman, would serve oecanse of 
the lionor of the office, and would attend to his 
duties. If he did not he was to be disgraced by 
dismissal. It was found, however, that this 
law would not work, and by an act of 173(\ the 
vestrymen were also subjected to line, to be 
recovered by ]3rocess before a justice of the 
peace, one half to go to the church and the 
other half to the informer. Dissenters also were 
eligible to the office of vestrymen, as w^as declared 
by order of the Governor and Council in 1751, 
Piscataway j)arish having refused to qualify 
one who had been elected. This act was passed 
at a time of extreme agitation in the colony 
concerning church matters. In 1706 provision, 
additional to that in the law, was made for the 
]3rotection of Quakers and other Dissenters, by 
the passage of the English Act of Toleration; 
though some think, not with good intent, 
but because of the pains and penalties attached. 
For the whole English world then knew very 
little of religious lil3erty. Toleration, privilege, 
was granted ; though often more as a i)olitical 
necessity than for any other reason. The right 
to say what j)ersons should believe, and that 
they should believe something, w^as supposed to 
reside in the powers that be; and so Unitarians 
as well as Roman Catholics were excepted from 
the public grace bestowed, a grace that could at 
any time, according to the theory, be recalled. 
Tolerati(m j)roved to be, however, the embryotic 
condition out of wdiich has been developed by 
fostering circumstances, the full grown man of 
religious liberty, at least in the Protestant world. 
It may l^e advisal^le here to review for a 



I2i COLOmAL MARYLAND. 27 

moment tlie relation of the province of Mar}^- 
land to the home country, though Avhat maybe said 
of Maryland could generally be said of the other 
colonies. A law of England was not binding in 
the colonies unless it was ex^^ressly adojDted 
there, or unless it was made for the colonies, as 
the Navigation Acts were, so that while x^ersecu- 
tion raged in England against all the various 
forms of dissent from the days of the settlement 
of Maryland, and cruel laws were x)assed for the 
purpose of repressing such dissenters, in New 
England, in NeAv York, in New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania, and in Maryland, there were to be 
found laws in every way contradictory of the 
English statutes. The freest asylums were pro- 
vided in the New World for those who by the 
Test, Conventicle and similar acts, were debarred 
all the rights of religious freedom. And so the 
Toleration Act had to be passed by the Assembly 
of Maryland before it could become a law. On 
the other hand laws passed by the colonial legis- 
lature had to be approved by the King, or after- 
wards by the Proi3rietary, before they could 
become operative, as was the case with the act of 
establishment ; though a law passed by the 
assembly went into effect immediately upon its 
passage and was regarded as binding until it was 
disapx)roved by the superior authority. And so 
the act of 1692 was carried out, the province 
laid out into parishes, other laws passed laying 
duties upon vestrymen, ministers settled and 
taxes levied for their support, years before the 
act finally became a law. 

Several questions suggest themselves in regard 
to the act of 1702, one of which is, who were the 



28 CHURCH LIFE 

persons on whom tlie poll tax was levied 'i A 
law passed in 1715 gives iis tlie enumeration, the 
same x3roviding for the duties of the constable in 
making up the list under the law : All males and 
all female slaves above the age of sixteen years. 
An act of 1662, had fixed the age for slaves at 
ten years. Also by a law of 1725 all female 
mulattoes born of white women, and all free 
negro women were taxables ; the only exceptions 
being beneficed clergy, jiaupers and aged slaves. 
For from the foundation of Maryland the negroes 
had been found in the colony, one having landed 
in Maryland with the first settlers. Found also 
to be profitable in working the lands they soon 
increased in numbers. They early became, how- 
ever, a great subject of agitation, and continued 
to be until the institution of slavery ceased. 
Their great numbers were forced upon the colonies 
by the cupidity of the English merchants and 
government. The first matter however, about 
which difficulty arose with them, was not civil 
but religious. For it was argued by some that 
baptism was not possible for them, such being 
the position taken by some Quakers, as men- 
tioned by the celebrated Thomas Story who Avas 
present at a meeting at AVest River, in the year 
1699 ; the argument being that as the baptized 
are made in the rite "members of Christ, child- 
ren of God and inheritors of the kingdom of 
Heaven" they could not any longer be detained as 
slaves; not that their care was in this for the 
slaves, which they themselves possessed for many 
years after this time, but they rejected the 
bax)tism. This is the same question, it will be 
remembered, St. Paul had to deal with. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 29 

In consequence of such notions, in some in- 
stances the negroes were sadly neglected, neither 
baptism administered nor instruction given, 
though the church labored hard, as the Maryland 
records show, through a long period to correct 
such false notions and to secure these blessings 
to the slaves. The state did the same by declaring 
the fallacy of the Friends' argument, enacting 
in 1715 the following: ''For as much as many 
people have neglected to baptize their negroes or 
to suffer them to be baptized, on the vague 
apprehension that negroes by receiving the sacra- 
ment of baptism are manumitted or set free ; 
be it hereby further declared and enacted that 
no negro or negroes by receiving the holy sacra- 
ment of baptism is thereby manumitted or set 
free, nor hath any right or title to manumission 
more than he or they had before ; any law, usage, 
or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." 

A second question in regard to the establish- 
ment is, what were the functions of the vestry 
under it 'i The vestry acted for the state in the 
erection and care of church buildings. For the 
churches were not built by private subscription, 
but in the beginning, and at any subsequent 
period when renewal might be necessary, money 
for the erection of churches and also for their 
repair, was levied upon the taxables of the 
parishes, either by the Assembly or the county 
court, as the case might be ; while contracts were 
made by the vestry with power to draw on the 
sheriif for the amount assessed. They were also 
executive officers, in some respects, for the 
county court, selling immoral women and their 
children into slavery under the court' s decree. It 



30 GHUliCH L ^FE 

was their duty also to authorize the rector and 
wardens under an act of 1G94 to publicly admon- 
ish persons living together inmiorally, a form of 
vice terribly prevalent at that time ; for there 
were ten separate cases where parties were pub- 
licly admonished for this crime in August 1698 
in St. James' Parish alone. The vestry also were 
preservers of the peace within the limits of the 
Church and Church yard, in some cases passing 
regulations directing the acts of the wardens. 
Afterwards other functions were added more 
truly secular, as the choosing of counters to i)re- 
vent the excessive production of tobacco, the law 
limiting the amount that might be planted to 
every workman on the place. They also later 
down in the colony nominated inspectors of 
tobacco for the warehouses within their parishes ; 
and at one period we find them returning officers 
for reporting persons liable to be taxed as bache- 
lors to meet the expense incurred in the French 
war. 

Their powers were, however, limited as com- 
X)ared with those of the vestries of Virginia. 
For to these was reserved such intiuence as to 
promote great confusion; while in Maryland the 
authority of the vestries was so contracted as 
that clerical licence was often exaggerated, pro- 
ducing jealousy and contention between pastor 
and people. For the seeing or imagining evils 
which they were unable to correct, only irritated 
the laity and widened immeasurably the dis- 
tance lietAveen pastor and people. For in Mary- 
land the vestry had no power but to receive the 
governor's or his Lordship's appointment of a 
rector, and when he was settled there was no 



ly C()bb)\'IAL MaUYLANV. 31 

legal antliority in existence to remove liim, tliongli 
we Unci tlie commissary, Mr. Henderson, attenii^- 
ting to discipline certain derelict men. All power 
of presentation and induction w^as reserved, both 
by the charter and the act of 1702, to the civil 
authority, a fact that often excited extreme 
indignation on the part of the vestries, but a fact 
also that had to be endured ; for the Proi^rietary 
prized all his prerogatives too highly to let one 
of them ever slip from him. Possibly under all 
the circumstances it was the best thing that 
could have happened ; for under the restrictions 
Maryland w^as saved from many things that befell 
the church in Virginia, chiefly the last l)itter 
exx)erience of the latter when the Revolutionary 
struggle put an end to both establishments. The 
vestries, however, in Maryland wielded a very 
decided indirect inlluence, and wdien their opin- 
ions were strongly exj^ressed, they Avere consid- 
ered, as well by the governor of the province 
as by the legislators; and under the stimulus 
afforded by them the latter tried to i3revent 
current evils, especially in the clergy; for rejieated 
efforts were made by the Assembly to discipline 
offenders. Also, when the vestrymen themselves 
were men of character, which often they were 
not, they could hold evil doers in check. All 
general laws, however, proposed for disciplining 
the clergy proved abortive, even the best of the 
clergy, who often grievecl over their offending 
brethren, resisting the means proposed as not in 
keeping with their conceptions of the indei3en- 
dent position of ordained men, the attempt 
always being to create a court for trial comj^osed 
in j)art of laymen. 



33 CHURCH LIFE 

As it will appear the position of a vestryman 
under the Establishment was different from what 
it is now. He was a man clothed with functions 
and dignities which are not now recognized as 
belonging to him. His eye was supposed to be 
everywhere, discerning wrong doing to correct it, 
and so he was the custodian of the morals and 
good order of society ; and this he did, not as a 
grand juror will do now, but his functions were 
connected with the house of God, which was 
supposed, under the law, to embrace under its 
care all the citizens of the province, and so he 
was custodian of morals as in the sight of God. 
He may not always have recognized that fact 
himself, but the Establishment was only a less 
pronounced expression of that identity of 
church and state that j)revailed in New England. 
The meeting of the vestry and wardens monthly 
was the convening of a spiritual court with a 
good many secular functions, and their separa- 
tion from the rest of the congregation on Sunday 
as they gathered into their x)eculiar j^ews, whence 
they issued only to repress some irregularity, 
kept up the same conception. In conformity 
with this was a law of 1728, which forbade 
swearing or drunkenness in the presence of a 
vestryman, a church warden, and other persons 
named, under the penalty of fine, whipping, or 
sitting in the stocks ("a freeholder or other reput- 
able person" being excepted from the latter form 
of punishment.) 

In addition to these duties of the vestry, the 
chief vestryman, or minister, had other functions. 
One of these was the granting of marriage licen- 
ces, which was appointed to him by Gov. Nichol- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 33 

son's proclamation in 1698. For Maryland has 
always tlionght it right to raise a revenue by this 
means, often in this way putting a bar in the 
path to matrimony. The aberrations, however, 
of legislators are sometimes striking ; for while 
Maryland has always insisted on a fee for marry- 
ing, when she got very much pressed for funds 
in 1755, she immediately demanded of a man a 
fee for not getting married, and for years taxed 
the bachelor as such. Her chief desire evidently 
has always been not the man's happiness but his 
money. Another function of the chief vestry- 
man was the reading of certain penal laws four 
times a year publicly, such laws being those con- 
cerning swearing, drunkenness, and the violation 
of the Sabbath day by work, fishing, gunning; 
and if he refused or failed to do this he was fined. 
For the statute books of Maryland have always 
been marked for liquor and Sunday laws, and the 
requirement of the Rector of the parish to read 
these publicly, shows what the Church was, the 
minister of the state for the working out of its 
own best condition. We have seen also what 
the duties of the minister and vestry were in 
regard to the immoral, whether married or un- 
married, in the way of rebuke and punishment. 

Altogether the impression left on the mind 
after reviewing the whole matter, is that while as 
an establishment, the church had many things 
to endure, which afflicted her intensely^ for she 
was often wounded in the house of her friends; 
yet that she was of immense benefit to the then 
state of society in the colony, that she was a 
necessity for the elevation of the tone and 
character of the people, that there was no 



84 CHURCH LIFE 

system that could have taken her place, that 
she wrought great good for the permanent wel- 
fare of Maryland, and that Marylanders 
perceived this; so that though they might be at 
times spiteful and disposed to strike heavy blows, 
yet that they instinctively recognized her merits 
and her good ends achieved, and preserved her 
integrity to the very last. 



/iY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 35 



CHAPTER III. 

THE POPULATION OF THE COLONY. 

^Before entering npon the closer work of our 
narrative it will be advisable to take a glance 
at the general make up of the popnlation of the 
province, for the reason that the origin and 
elements of the popnlation mnst have had a 
very strong inllnence at times, if not all along, 
upon the experience of the Establishment. For 
it was then in the colony, as it is now in Eng- 
land where the Non-conformists are so antagonis- 
tic to the church. The Establishment was always 
an occasion of wrangling, freqnently excessive, 
both in the legislative halls and also in private, 
at times the question rising to the prominence of 
a great political agitation. The fact, however, 
that the Establishment continued to exist down 
to the Revolution proved that the great majority 
of the people were its favorers and suj)i3orters. 
For other great friends it had none, but was 
rather abused and oppressed and feared by 
those in power; and yet though the law, as 
providing for its emoluments was repeatedly 
altered, no hand was ever laid upon its life. At- 
tempts were made by indirect means to annul 
the Establishment, as by declaring that the law 



m CHURCH LIFE 

liad never been duly enacted. But these were 
probably only to feel the general pulse and the 
investigation told politicians it was a dangerous 
project. 

Lord Baltimore's colony as first sent out, 
consisted of about two hundred, though one 
authority says three hundred i3ersons. Among 
these there were about twenty gentlemen of ' 'good 
fashion." These were probably all of either 
Great Britain or Ireland. At the same time 
there was a settlement upon Kent Island, of 
persons from Virginia, whose number was about 
one hundred. This was the population at the 
founding of the colony. There were settlements 
also on the Delaware founded by the Dutch; 
but as this territory, though originally included 
in the terms of Lord Baltimore's grant, was 
afterwards conferred ujion another, we need not 
ke^p it in mind. 

It is interesting also to observe the sources 
from which settlers afterwards came. For 
Maryland gathered within its borders persons 
from not only Great Britain and Ireland, but also 
from the continent, as France, Holland, Bohemia, 
Germany and Spain. The policy on which Lord 
Baltimore acted from the beginning, was in the 
highest degree judicious and enterprising. His 
aim and endeavor were to fill his territory in 
the quickest possible way. This was different 
from the plan that controlled some of the 
earlier settlements, for they were established as 
asylums from religious persecution, while Mary- 
land was established, as some of the later 
colonies, as a business enterprise. Cecilius, 
Lord Baltimore, by whom the colony was finally 



IjV colonial MARYLAND. 37 

sent out, remained himself in England. He 
regarded it, however, as a safe investment, 
and spent large sums upon it. He also put 
forth efforts to send out settlers, as his adver- 
tisement, already referred to, shows, while 
Alsop's "Character of the Province of Maryland" 
written in 1666 is believed to have been 
prompted by the same cause. We know also 
in other ways that Lord Baltimore labored hard 
to this same end, soliciting and entering into con- 
tract with parties to bring settlers in. For this 
reason he pursued the liberal x3olicy he did, 
though certainly his religious views compelled 
him to the same; for a bigoted policy on his 
part would not have been tolerated in the British 
Empire for one day. It was doubtless also a 
policy harmonious with his own enlightened 
understanding; for there is nothing either in his 
words or actions that can make us doubt that. 
He invited all to come. He gave all a share in. 
the administration of the colony by giving them 
a seat in the provincial assembly. He natural- 
ized those who were of foreign extraction, andj 
while allowing religious liberty to all of Avhat- 
ever name, he was content to secure by law the 
rights and liberties of those of his own faith. 
And so the emigrants gathered in from all 
quarters. It was the day of emigration. The 
Old World was too small and too full. The 
franchises of men were too contracted. The 
oppressed Romanist of Britain yearned for re- 
ligious freedom, and the oppressed Protestant, 
whose religion had developed within him a 
desire for broader privileges, sought deliverance 
from the surviving remains of feudalism whose 



38 CHURCH LIFE 

spirit was antagonistic to all political right. 
Privilege and prerogative, the one the possession 
of the higher classes, and the other in scanty 
measure, the gift to all others, were at the 
fonndation of the old world's legislation. Tlie 
new world's open doors were hailed as the great 
refuge. God's intention in this last discover}^ 
was perceived. Maryland, in her earlier days 
offering a freer asylum than most of the other 
colonies did, received her full share of those 
who were looking for such a refuge. Besides, 
as the founder's terms were very liberal, the 
poverty stricken at home could with confidence 
look forward to competence within his domain; 
while also it was easy for any one that desired 
it to secure a passage out by obligating himself 
to la])or for a certain period when he reached his 
destination. 

But it was not only the voluntary emigrants 
that came into the colony. There were others, 
as the Scotch ]3risoners, who, having taken up 
arms or shown sympathy for the Pretender in 
1715 or 1745 were sent out of the country. 
There was also another kind of emigrant, of a 
far more objectionable type, the convicts, per- 
sons found guilty of various felonies. Accord- 
ing to one authority, quoted by McMahon, for 
thirty years, ending in 1767, the average number 
of this class received into the colony and ])ur- 
chased by the colonists for their labor, had been 
six hundred. This was a kind of emigrant that 
the residents of the colony of Maryland, as the 
residents in every other colony, were most 
unwilling to accept, as it was a gross injustice to 
pirecipitate such a class in such numbers upon 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 39 

them. It was, however, very convenient for 
the government at home. Still another body 
of the population was the negroes who had 
grown to the number of 49,675 in the year 1761. 
This was not by natural increase of course. 
The slave trade had been fondly nurtured by 
the English government as one of its dearest 
possessions, and the provinces also had looked 
upon it with favor, as affording them a cheap 
and efficient su]?ply of labor. All the colonies 
of America rejoiced in the opportunity, except 
as the cupidity of the English merchants forced 
uj)on the market an excessive supply. Kidnaj)- 
ping of grown persons and children was also 
extensively pursued in Great Britain and Ireland 
to sux^ply the colonial demand. 

This was, therefore, the population of Mary- 
land. — of various, and it might seem, of heteroge- 
neous elements. Except, however, in the case of 
the negroes, the whole body, convicts, prisoners 
of war, foreigners of all classes, English, Irish, 
Scotch, and from the continental nations became 
amalgamated into a homogeneous body, and at 
the close of the colonial period the whole people 
were found united in one aim and kindled with 
one desire. We would not of coiirse expect to 
find the social condition of a people so consti- 
tuted very high. There were wealthy men and 
men of culture all the way through the whole 
colonial period, but also the larger body of the 
inhabitants must have been ignorant and of a low 
moral standard. We- shall see evidences of this 
latter condition as we go on; while the absence 
of any provision for instruction in the beginning 
and the scanty su^^ply throughout the whole 



40 CHURCH LIFE 

time, make tlie former certain. The early want, 
too, of clinrcli ministrations, from the great 
scarcity of Christian ministers, helped to keej) 
the moral and intellectual tone low. For the 
sparse settlement of the territory made coopera- 
tion for clerical support almost impossible, even 
if the people themselves had had any longing for 
such ministrations; and the colonial authorities 
did not feel themselves under obligation to make 
provision in the case. There wepe some ministers, 
but very few. After the establishment of the 
church and of the Royal autliority in the colony, 
religion and education both were provided for, 
with an attempt to make the provision sufficient. 
The Establishment so far wrought great good, 
and in the only possible way, at this time. The 
opening of a future, however, to all the settlers 
who might have an ambition to improve their 
condition, was itself a great educational influ- 
ence, with the result of developing a tone and 
character in the population superior to that 
found in like classes in the home country. This 
sense of a future has always been to the Ameri- 
can masses the profoundest cause of their social 
elevation 

The make up of the colonists in the matter of 
their religious sentiments, presents as great a 
diversity as the i^laces of their nativity or the 
reasons for their coming into the province. As we 
have seen, the evidence is unquestionable that 
the great majority of the first colonists were of 
the Protestant faith. ''In leading the colony to 
Maryland by far the greater part were heretics,'' 
says the Jesuit Father; and the assembly that 
met in 1638 was "composed with few exceptions 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 41 

of heretics," an assembly, it will be recollected, 
where all freeholders were present either person- 
ally or by proxy. This throws light upon the 
ordinance of the following year which secured to 
"Holy Church" her rights, and which, as now 
understood meant only to secure the church 
against exactions of the tem^^oral j^ower. From 
the beginning these two classes were found in 
the colony. And Alsop, writing in 1666, inden- 
titles the heretics, calling them by the now much 
abused title "Protestant Episcopal," equivalent 
to Protestant Catholic used in the colony in 1642. 
"With few exceptions the colony was composed 
of heretics" so the Jesuit father. In 1681, there 
were thirty Protestants to one Papist, according 
to Chalmers; while in 17(H), according to Dr. 
Bray, the Roman Catholics numbered one twelfth, 
the same ratio that is given for the year 1754. 

The Protestants, however, i)resented a solid 
front only to the Roman Catholics. They were 
greatly divided among themselves, Maryland 
being by its liberal government a haven of rest 
to many that were persecuted and driven out 
from the other provinces as well as from the 
countries beyond the sea. Among the first of 
such persons to come in were the Puritans, who, 
having been ordered to leave Virginia where 
they had been settled for some years, took up 
their residence at the mouth of the Severn. 
Virginia and Massachusetts were at this time 
acting as twin sisters in repression, only with 
contradictory antagonisms, Virginia abominating 
the Puritans as much as Massachusetts abomina- 
ted all those who in any way disagreed with its 
own church principles. It was the time when 



42 CHURCH LIFE 

Puritanism was triumphant in England, when 
Presbyterianism followed the Anglican church 
in being driven from authority, when Indepen- 
dency was sui^reme. Virginia had not hesitated 
on this account, but compelled the withdrawal of 
the CO religionists of Cromwell and his army. 
They entered the province in the year 1649, and 
for some years took an active part in and 
fomented the disturbances of the period, defying 
the authority of Lord Baltimore and refusing to 
take the oaths which had been imposed as a 
condition of plantation. Afterwards they quieted 
down, and probably in the great changes which 
took place in that part of the colony when the 
capital was removed thither, became absorbed in 
large measure in the church. 

Another class that entered the colony in its 
earlier days Avere the Quakers, whose presence 
is lirst determined in the year 1657. The first 
appearance, however, was of persons rather bent 
on missionary enterprise, travelling members 
acting in that proselyting spirit that has always 
more or less distinguished their society until 
more recent years. Nor were their endeavors 
without success ; for we see that they were soon 
able to establish their meetings on both shores of 
the Chesapeake. In 1672 George Fox, the 
founder of the sect, attended a meeting at West 
River which he describes as large and which 
lasted four days. Members of course came in 
from abroad as new colonists, to a place where 
unusual consideration was shown them ; but 
many converts were made in Maryland ; one 
reason for which probably was the fact above 
noted, the difficulty the settlers had in a sparsely 



IN COLONIAL iMAK VIAND. 48 

settled country to jDrovide by voluntary 
contributions for the support of ministers. Often 
for long periods there were no opportunities 
offered for public worshi^^, a blessing very many 
of the people yearned for, and the opening of a 
Friend's meeting was the best possible provision 
under the circumstances. The children were not 
baptized, holy communion was not administsred, 
the Word was not preached. Quakerism came in 
with its negations in regard to this whole work 
of the ministrj^, and, a new thing, it commanded 
a large amount of attention. Besides, those who 
represented the new sect must have been men of 
force who would constrain attention. Certainly 
they were very sincere and devotedly in earnest. 
They were willing and did endure all things. 
Many of them suffered even unto death, though 
not in Maryland. Here some attempts were 
made to rei)ress them, but they soon got influence 
and as early as 1'677 some of them appear to have 
been members' of the Assembly. They largely, 
also, increased in numbers, so that in the year 
1700, when the population of the colony was 
probably tAventy-five thousand, they numbered 
about one-twelfth. In subsequent days the law 
took pains to protect them, as from the presence 
of disorderly men at their yearly meetings, while 
already such adaptation of the laws as was 
necessary in what they esteemed matters of 
moment, as keeping the head covered, or affirm- 
ing instead of swearing in the courts, had been 
made. 

It is a notable thing, however, in Maryland 
history that where at one time the Quakers 
abounded and had flourishing meetings, now 



44 GHURCII LIFE 

they are not found at all. Tliis is tlie fact in 
various places, but West River presents a very- 
marked instance. Here the old burying ground 
is found, and here are the families whose 
names adorn the old records, but there is not a 
Friend anywhere in the whole region. Farther 
up the country there is an old meeting house 
standing, but only as a deserted relic of the ]3ast; 
and farther down the country the site is pointed 
out of another house. The cause of the disap- 
pearance of the membership is to be found, of 
course, in some social change that has affected 
the body in times gone by ; for in other regions 
the disciples of Fox have shown sufficient 
tenacity of life. The great Hicksite-schism may 
have unhinged the views of some ; but the great 
probable cause that undermined this ecclesias- 
tical fabric was the antagonism to slavery, which 
became in the last half of the eighteenth century 
so strong a sentiment with the Friends, that to 
hold slaves debarred persons from continuing 
members of the society. This final resolution we 
are told, encountered serious opposition from 
many members, most jorobably those who lived 
in that section of the country where slavery 
continued to be the chief dependence for labor ; 
and consequently the question being presented 
of abandoning their farms or abandoning their 
meeting, many were found who could not see 
the heinousness of the ancient institution which 
even the Quaker principles had always allowed 
to this time. And so it was as the years passed 
on they lost their former reverence for the 
peculiarities of their persuasion, and by degrees 
conformed to the doctrines and practices of the 



AV COLONIAL MARYLAND. 45 

people among whom tliey lived. This is the 
most probable conjecture, and is fortified by still 
existing tradition. 

Anotlier sect that settled in Maryland about 
the year 1680, was a com23any of Labadists, a 
body that lived on communal princii3les. They 
were few in number, and were in various ways 
attractive, but though ambitious of proselytes, 
they gained but few. Their existence, how^ever, 
was short-lived in Maryland. They came from 
Friesland, founded by Labadie, formerly a priest 
of the Roman Communion, a Frenchman who 
settled in Holland. Their views and i)ractices 
were in many ways peculiar. 

Of course there were in addition to these all 
the various forms of dissent from the Established 
church. For toleration, though for a short while 
in a measure denied, soon was allowed most 
fully, the Roman Catholics, also, having all 
religious privileges, though denied equal 
political rights. These other sects, however, 
did not come in with demonstration, but were 
content to enjoy and rejoice in the liberty which 
in some cases they were denied at home.' The 
Scotch brought over their Presbyterian affilia- 
tions, the Germans their Lutheran organization, 
while from incidental remarks we know^ that in 
the earlier period, and probably all the way along, 
there were Jews as well as other unbelievers in 
the province. The composite character of the 
religious proclivities of the people was brought 
out in the year 1760, when Boston having suffered 
very greatly by fire, the Governor of Slaryland 
called on the citizens of the province to contribute 
for the relief of the sufferers. The resj^onse was 



46 CHURCH LIFE 

liberal, one tlionsand, eight hundred and thirty- 
nine pounds, given approximately as follows : 
by the Established Church, fifteen hundred and 
three pounds, by the Quakers one hundred and 
thirty-four pounds, by the Presbyterians one 
hundred and seven, by the Roman Catholics 
seventy-six, by the Baptists seven, by the 
Dunkers six, by the Lutherans live. These items 
are interesting as showing not only the religious 
denominations within the i^rovince, but also in 
some degree they may be supposed to indicate 
their relative numbers. Doing so, they show,, 
also, why the establishment continued to be,, 
notwithstanding a large amount of wrangling and 
dispute from time to time, an accepted institu- 
tion to the close of the colonial days. It 
contained within it the great body of the people, 
and it embraced the great influential class that 
by its intelligence swayed the legislature and bj 
its wealth supported the government. It takes 
but a few men to begin an agitation and those 
few may be controlled by unworthy reasons^ 
which they may be loth to make known to the 
world. An institution is fixed in a community 
because it rests upon the flxed sentiment 
of the great mass of the people and presents 
to their heart and mind strong reasons for its 
existence. Nothing else than this can account 
for the solidity of the establishment amidst all 
kinds of agitation that raged around it and in it 
through the whole period of its existence and 
the gracious farewell that was extended to it at 
last, and the quasi recognition of its principle 
that was contained in the Bible of Rights. The; 
establishment was always supported by the bestj 



IN COLONIAL MABTLANI). 47 

sentiment and willingly sustained by the pre- 
pondering wealth of the people. 



48 CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER ly. 

THE CARRYING OUT OF THE ACT OF 
ESTABLISHMENT. 

The Act of Establisliinent though passed in 
May 1692 was ■ not carried out till January 1694 
or rather 1695, according to our present division 
of the year, and that for the reason, apparently, 
that Gov. Copley, who was the first governor of 
the now Royal Province, did not feel any strong 
interest in the matter, with enough of other 
things during his brief administration, to engross 
his attention. He was succeeded by Gov. Nich- 
olson, who reached the colony in 1694, and at 
once by his vigor the law was carried into effect, 
and the territory laid out into parishes. Gov. 
Nicholson was to the province of Maryland in 
the highest degree a blessing during the period 
of about four years which he continued in it. 
No man of that time, may be, has been more 
severely criticised by our historians than he, 
though often it would seem with a kind of mock 
liberality of political sentiment. In fact, fre- 
quently in reading theii' denunciations of the men 
and measures of those times there appears a want 
of true appreciation of the times in which the 



/iV" COLONIAL MARYLAND. 49 

objects of tlieir abomination lived and labored. 
There is no sense in judging a man of the seven- 
teenth century by laAvs that have grown out of 
the advancement that has taken place since the 
seventeenth century. What would be an arbi- 
trary measure now would not have been an arbi- 
trary measure then. What would be a lofty and 
imperious manner now in the case of some ]3ublic 
X)rotest, in the midst of a people all of whose 
officers are of their own choosing, x^assing minis- 
ters of their will, would not have been a loft 5^ 
and imperious manner in the days when kings 
ruled, and when the limits of constitutional 
authority were indefinitely understood both by 
kings and people. So, to read such strictures now, 
as we sometimes find our nineteenth century 
historians indulging in, rather palls upon the ear, 
and it becomes our desire to leave their judgments 
and ascertain their facts. Grovernor Nicholson 
seems to have been a man of hasty temper and 
impatient of restraint. He seems also to have 
had the unfortunate faculty of , pursuing any 
object of his antipathy relentlessly. At the 
same time, while it is the fashion now to saj^ 
hard things of him, very pleasant things were 
said of him while he was governor of Maryland, 
as the council proceedings show, things highly 
commendatory of his course; the final testimon- 
ial of this nature being given in 1698 when his 
authority in Maryland ceased. In Virginia, 
also, he was very popular, a handsome donation, 
as a testimonial, having been voted him, though 
it is true he was not there uninterruptedly 
popular. Years afterwards, also, when he 
became governor of South Carolina, he was held 



50 (JHURUH LIFE 

in higli favor, and in such completed a long 
political association with the colonies. 

This was the man that without any special 
appointment for this reason, became the patron 
of the cause of the Church in Maryland under 
the recently enacted law; and coming into power 
he immediately set about establishing the 
church' s influence. Regarding the law as going 
into effect upon its passage, as it did, he caused 
the accumulated tax to be used in building- 
churches, while also he had the gratification of 
being able to induct eight ministers into Cures. 
Some of these, it appears, had accompanied him 
to the colony. His influence, also, made the 
establishment very popular as far as his influ- 
ence was needed; and we are informed "the 
churches were crowded as full as they could 
hold." This, as already surmised, was not (mly 
because the governor favored the church and 
clergy, but probably also because it was the first 
opportunity furnished for the general assem- 
bling of the people in protestant places of 
worship; and there was a strong yearning at that 
time to worship God under the ministrations of 
a protestant ministry. The antagonism of the 
whole protestant body to the Roman Church, 
with which sentiment the air was charged, both 
in England and America, made even dissenters 
glad to embrace the establishment as a strongly 
felt want. Probably never at any time, either 
in 'England or in the colony, was there a nearer 
approach to an accommodation on the part of 
dissenters and churchmen than now. This had 
been brought about by the common uprising of 
all classes against the x)erfidious but plausible 



1 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 51 

designs of James II. Both the Act of Toleration 
and the proposed Act of Comprehension testify 
to this. Gov. Nicholson did all he could to 
make the Church of England accej)table to the 
whole body of the peojole, and he so far suc- 
ceeded as that opposition to it was not found 
among the non-conformists in general, but only 
among the widely separated bodies, the Quaker 
and Roman Catholics. 

Another subject which early excited his 
interest was that of education. Before coming 
into Maryland, while Lieutenant Governor of 
Virginia, he had secured the estal)lishnient of 
the College of William and Mary, and while he 
did not attempt so elaborate an enterprise in 
Maryland his aim was to provide free schools 
throughout the province. In 1696 the attem^Dt 
was repeated in an act petitioning the king for 
liberty to establish a school in every county. 
The idea was, that such schools should be 
feeders to William and Mary College. The 
attempt was in a measure successful and various 
schools were opened. It is highly probable that 
such a system Avas supplemented by parochial 
schools conducted by the clergy. There is 
frequent evidence of this given; though with 
both opportunities the standard of education in 
the province must have been low. There were 
always some men of high attainments, among 
them a small number who had been sent to 
Europe to complete tlietr training. The mass 
of the people, however, had neither the appre- 
ciation nor the leisure to attain more than the 
rudiments. 

Besides Governor Nicholson, Maryland was 



52 CHURCH LIFE 

also extremely fortunate at the same time in the 
possession of another eminent man in the 
administration of her affairs. This was the Rev. 
Dr. Bray who for some years acted as commissary, 
a church officer whose duty was to have supervis- 
ion of the clergy and a certain oversight in the 
regulation of church matters. It is difficult to 
speak very clearly about his influence, because 
the office was at best but a passing adaption to a 
passing need. He possessed none of the powers 
of the^ episcopate. He was only the Bishop's 
representative for supervision to take cognizance 
of cases, to warn the unruly. In Dr. Bray's case 
the office was highly respected. Afterwards, 
however, Avhen it came into other hands, and 
jealousies were excited, it is questionable whether 
often it did not do more harm than good. 
Pretensions were put forth on the one side and a 
grasping after authority, which were resisted 
with violence and virulence. Dr. Bray occupied 
a relatively higher position than any one that 
succeeded him did. He was in the colony but a 
short time. Eff'orts were often made by the 
clergy, sometimes jointly with the civil authority, 
to secure the residence of a Bishop. Even at 
this early date such an effort was made. The 
Bishop of London was ordinary for the colonies, 
though this title was sometimes given to the 
Governor of Marjdand ; but of course the benefit 
of such an arrangement was small compared 
with the influence a Bishop on the spot might 
exercise. Discipline was always at fault, and 
incalculable harm was often done by unworthy 
ministers. Ordination to the holy ministry 
could only be obtained by crossing the sea, and 



m COLONIAL MARYLAND. 58 

SO the supply was kept down. Dependence was 
altogether upon clergymen from Great Britain, 
many of whom left their country for their 
country's good. Confirmation of course could 
never be administered. 

To obtain a Bishop, however, was impossible 
in the then state of things, and so as the next 
best thing a commissary was chosen and sent out. 
This was done at the solicitation of the clergy, 
who desired that the officer sent might be 
" capacitated to redress what is amiss and supply 
what is wanting in the church." There was no 
law of the colony providing for such an officer, 
neither had regulation been made for his 
support or for his authority over the person of 
the citizens, whether clerical or lay ; questions 
that were to excite in the coming days a great 
deal of discussion and bitterness. Dr. Bray was 
readily fixed upon for the office, having by his 
writings had the attention of Dr. Compton 
called to himself, and in 1696 he was chosen. He 
did not immediately, however, go over to his 
province, but remained in England till the close 
of 1699, reaching the colony early in the next year. 
It was the peculiarly good fortune of Maryland 
to have had at the same time two such ardent 
friends laboring for her. Governor Nicholson in 
immediate administration of her civil affairs and 
Dr. Bray using all his endeavors to forward her 
best religious interests. For the latter was 
indefatigable in his efforts to x^^ovide for his 
Jurisdictions not only ministers to whom he 
offered many worthy inducements, but also 
parish libraries of the best works of the day for 
the information of the clergy, and through them 



o4 CHURCH LIFE 

of tlie people. He regarded this as one of the 
best things he could accomplish. For many of the 
clergy of the time, though duly ordained, 
were greatly wanting in training, so that a 
subsequent governor expressed his surprise how 
such unprepared men could ever have entered 
the niinistr}^ The hope of a supply of ministers 
at all was, of course, chiefly from the poorer of 
the home clergy. Only such could in any num- 
bers be expected to brave the difliculties of the 
long sea voyage with its attendant risks in those 
days, and to undergo the unknown trials of a 
colonial life. So he felt parish libraries to be a 
great necessity, and succeeded in establishing 
about thirty in Maryland, with others in other 
parts of America, as well as some also in England. 
We at this day can hardly appreciate the need 
there was of such provision at that time. A 
home far awa}^ from the centre of x>ublication, 
the price of books high, the salary of the clergy 
small as a rule, with nothing like our current 
literature, which whatever may be said of its 
value, at any rate gives the mind some exercise, 
an uneducated people wdiose demands upon the 
clergy were not stimulating, constituted a crowd 
of obstacles enough to reduce the standard of 
clerical attainment to the smallest. Dr. Bray 
endeavored in his capacity of commissary, to 
l^rovide relief for this, and made personal solici- 
tations to the wealthy. Where he found an un- 
willingness to contribute for the use of the colo- 
ny he endeavored to secure something for feebler 
parishes at home. The libraries sent out differed 
very greatly in numbers, that of St. Ann's par- 
ish, Annapolis, having a thousand and ninety-five 



IN COLONIAL MABYLAND. 55 

volumes. Tliey were committed to the care of 
the rector, being intended for his use, who was 
bound to see that the books were preserved. 
Most of these collections have long since been 
scattered, but from time to time a separate book 
is picked up in some old parish. St. John's col- 
lege, Annapolis, has quite a number of them in 
its keeping. The disorder into which everything 
fell during the Revolution and subsequently, 
was the cause of the loss. They would hardly, 
however, even if they were still in existence, 
possess more than an antiquarian interest. 

Dr. Bray's efforts to secure clergy for the par- 
ishes, were so far successful that when he came 
into the colony he found, including such as came 
with him, seventeen. These all came expecting 
to be supported by the provision made for them 
in the province, that is, by the Act of Establish- 
ment. For though Missionaries were sent out by 
the great English Society for Propagating the 
gospel, to other parts of America, yet Maryland 
was supi30sed to be able to take care of itself. 
That Society was indeed the child of Dr. Bray's 
own heart and mind in a most eminent degree. 
Its field, however, was in other parts of America. 
Yet Maryland did not make any abundant pro- 
vision. Each parish was to take care of its own 
rector, and consequently there was a great differ- 
ence in the value of the livings. The supposi- 
tion was that the average sum for a living would 
be about one hundred pounds sterling, but ac- 
tually the income in some places was not more than 
a quarter of that. The chief cause of this differ- 
ence was the varying character of the population, 
some sections of the colony being far more thick- 



5(J (JHURCH LIFE 

ly settled than otliers. An attempt was made in 
the beginning to compensate for this by making 
the parishes in the thinly settled portions much 
larger, a means that later produced sometimes 
irritating and painful results, while in the begin- 
ning it made the labors of the rector often very 
excessive. The irritating circumstances arose 
from the fact that when the territory filled up, 
the incumbent had far more to do than he had 
time for, and the people were thus denied Church 
opi^ortunities, and yet, as the incumbent's salary 
was contingent upon the number of polls, he was 
opiDOsed to a division. Besides, inducted into 
the whole parish he regarded a division as 
an interference with his vested rights. The di- 
vision, however, took place ; though sometimes 
the difficulty was provided for by the erection of 
chapels of ease and the apj)ointment of assis- 
tants. Another circunjstance made the income 
to vary from year to year, the varying quality 
and market value of the currency in which all 
.colonial officers were jjaid, tobacco. Attempts 
were made to fix a rate of commutation in the 
scrip of the colony, but the planters could al- 
ways get the better of the parsons in that, by 
paying in what medium they pleased. Some of 
the parishes after a few years yielded very hand- 
some incomes, while some others were always 
extremely weak. 

The whole arrangement 23roduced many diffi- 
culties throughout the whole colonial period. 
In some parishes the scantiness of the clergy- 
man's income caused better men to make special 
provision for their support, and a number of 
cures early received endowments in land. Plur- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 57 

alities were allowed, as we liave seen, nnder 
certain conditions, but the necessary labor 
involved often meant practical inefficiency. In 
some respects Maryland had a show of prosx)er- 
ity which was not always justified by the facts. 

Dr. Bray, having come into the colony, imme- 
diately began the duties of his office. In the 
May following his arrival, having previously 
visited each parish, he called together the clergy 
at Annax)olis, now for six years the capital of 
the colony, when a general discussion was had 
upon matters bearing upon the good of the 
church. The visitation lasted several days, and 
the best feeling prevailed. He exhorted the 
clergy to diligence in the instruction of the 
young, in parochial visiting, in Catechising in 
the church, and in private where great distances 
prevented families from attending service; to be 
earnest in teaching the duty of seeking baptism, 
of which there had been great neglect, the 
opportunities also in most places having been 
few; and to begin the regular monthly adminis- 
tration of the Holy Communion as soon as a 
sufficient number of persons could be found 
desirous of receiving the same. Great satisfac- 
tion was expressed at the recent passage of a 
new act of establishment, which had been by the 
unanimous consent of the Assembly; thanks 
were extended to Governor Blackiston for his 
support in the matter, and reference was made 
to the necessity of discipline for the clergy, 
looseness of morals on their part being declared 
the greatest obstacle that could afflict the colony. 
One' minister was severely arraigned in the 
presence of his brethren, his conduct being 



58 CHURCH LIFE 

seemingly most extreme, and a time was ap- 
pointed for his trial; an assum^Dtion of author- 
ity on the commissary's i^art that was not 
accorded to his successors. A scheme was laid 
out for several visitations a year, one of them 
to be a general visitation annually, when all the 
clergy were to be convened. Before their final 
separation the clergy joined in a request to the 
commissary that he would return to England 
to further the cause of the establishment act 
passed this year, and also to secure, as far as 
possible, an increase in the number of ministers. 
One item among their proceedings is of peculiar 
interest. It was a contribution made by the 
clergy assembled for the support of a missionary 
among the Quakers of Pennsylvania. They are 
described as "sadly deluded into a total apostasy 
from^ the Christian faith," and the clergy, rejoic- 
ing in their own privilege, as a kind of thank 
offering determined to recover as many as possi- 
ble from the error of their way. Pennsylvania 
was regarded probably as a field for foreign 
missions; for there were many Quakers in Mary- 
land for whose conversion the clergy might have 
both labored and contributed. The Act of 
Establishment, however, had not put these 
latter in a proper frame of mind for conversion; 
while for some years Pennsylvania had been 
very greatly excited and divided by a violent 
religious discussion, in the midst of which a 
very considerable number of Quakers had repu- 
diated their former views. This was therefore 
felt to be an opportunity. The amount sub- 
scribed was twenty-five pounds sterling, to be 
paid annually, and the commissary of Virginia 



IJV COLONIAL MABYLAND. 59 

was solicited to j)romote tlie same endeavor 
amongst his clergy. It was a decided advance 
upon the old way of treating the Friends, and 
indicates a degree of earnestness which we are 
sometimes disposed to think did not exist in 
those days. Many of the pastors who came 
over to Maryland at that time, were certainly 
men of Christian tone and devotion. Dr. Bray 
acceded to the request to return to England, and 
it was well for the Church that he did; for 
without his resolute endeavors the act of 1702 
would never have been finally ai3proved. He 
did not return to America, though until his 
death, some thirty years after this time, he 
continued the steadfast friend of the Church in 
Maryland. One cause ]jrobably of the cessation 
of his connection with the Establishment, was 
his disappointment about his support. For it 
was expected that as commissary he should be 
made judge in testamentary cases, an office 
which would have yielded hiiu three hundred 
pounds sterling j^er annum. As it was it was 
denied him, and also again when he sought it in 
his successor's behalf; and the agitation of the 
subject produced only bitterness with the civil 
authority. For the commissary as such there 
was no provision made. Dr. Bray had been 
most liberal with his own funds while laboring 
for the colony, and his means were now greatly 
contracted. 

As to the immediate influence of the new 
position of the church for good upon the moral 
condition of the colony, we are not left in dark- 
ness. The difference between a community 
ministered to by clergymen and one where the 



60 CHURCH LIFE 

gos23el is not preached, ought to be apparent. 
A new c(jmnmnity without the gospel is, as we 
find it in our own day, a place where looseness 
abounds, and that such was the condition of 
things in Maryland before the year seventeen 
hundred there is sufficient testimony. Such a 
promiscuous gathering of men could not but be 
regardless of the prox)rieties of life, and the only 
thing that could save the Maryland manners, 
was the fact that there were no great communi- 
ties of men, there being but very few places that 
had the name and much fewer that had the 
appearance of towns. The condition of things 
at the time of the Protestant Revolution, we 
have seen. Dr. Bray, however, was able to 
assure the clergy that he had learned, while 
going from parish to parish, that the effect of 
the clergy's presence, the preaching of the 
gospel, and the u]3rightness of life which they 
themselves exemplified in their various helds, had 
produced immediate good. Evil men proved a 
drawback from time to time, but many good men, 
some of them marked for their excellence, also 
abounded; and the i^eople received a positive 
blessing, of which, after the first noted effects, 
they ceased to be sensible. It is by contrast 
alone we often get to know of the most import- 
ant facts, and the immense good the Establish- 
ment was working all the time, the terrible 
depravity from which it was saving the colony, 
was never discerned. It was doubtless the bul- 
wark of right living till its closing days, when 
the increase of poj)ulation prepared the way 
for the introduction of the voluntary princi- 
ple. 



IN COLONIAL MABYLAND. 61 



CHAPTER y. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PARISH. 

We have now come to the organization of the 
parish and the incidents accompanying it. 
These i)resent many odd features to our con- 
ception; though Maryland notions were probably 
not very different from those of the home 
country in regard to like things. First must be 
remembered that this was in the days when the 
alliance between the church and state was such, 
to the exclusion of higher thoughts in large 
measure, that the tone and feeling of the church 
were greatly secularized. Some of the 
X^urest and noblest men shone eminently in 
that period, with Tillotson, • Archbishop of 
Canterbury at their head. The Church's true 
relation, however, to the spiritual welfare of the 
people, was often obscured, and jplace was too 
frequently the object which priests and spiritual 
rulers had in their minds. With this of course 
came about a low spiritual standard among the 
people. Yet the colonists of Maryland were not 
wanting in earnestness, though in some things 
they were wanting in refinement of i^erception, 
and things were imx)osed upon the clergy by law 



(33 CHURCH LIFE 

and methods pursued for the house of God that 
woukl to us seem impossible. 

The parish of St. James, Herring Creek, was 
laid out in the year 1694 (O. S.) by certain 
councillors and justices, Anne Arundel County 
being divided into four parts. The record runs 
thus: "Att a court held att London Town ye 
31st day of January anno Dom. 1694 and in ye 
sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 
and Lady Willm. and Mary by ye grace of God 
of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland King 
and Queen, Defender of ye faith &c. By ye 
justices and councillors thereunto authorized, 
with ye most i3rincipal freeholders and others 
called for ye laying out of ye county of Ann 
Arundel into districts and parishes, in pursuance 
to an Act of Assembly entitulled an act for ye 
service of Almighty God and ye Establishment 
of ye Protestant Religion in this province made 
att ye citty of St. Mary's the tenth day of May 
Anno Dom. 1692. 



Councillors and Justices present 
Esa \ ^oi^^^^cil^^^i's. 



Coll Nicholas Greenbury 
The Hon. Thos. Tench 



Mr. James Sanders, 

Maj. Henry Ridgiey, 

Capt. Nicli. Gasaway, 

Mr. Henry Constable, \ Justices. 

Mr. Philip Howard, 

Mr. John Dorsey, 

Mr. Setli Biggs, 

Whereas, in pursuance of ye authority to us 
given by ye afore mentioned act, it is found con- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 63 

venient and is liereni3on concluded that this 
County of Ann Arundell be divided into four 
parishes, the bounds and limitts of St. James' 
parish, then called by ye name of Herring Creek 
parish in Herring Creeke hundred Avith ye 
residue of West River hundred beginning at 
ye Southmost bounds of South River j^nrish on 
ye land of Ewen upon Ewenton, now in the 
possession of Richard Gallaway, and bounding 
on ye East with ye Day of Chessepeake lieing 
down Southerly to ye creek called Fishing Creek 
then West with ye said creek to ye bounds of 
Ann Arundel and Callvert Countys to Lyons 
Creek, then with ye said creek to Potuxan, then 
up ye sd river to ye land called Whites Plaines to 
the Southernmost bounds of South River parish. 
And from White's Plains Easterly including ye 

^and plantation of Thomas Stockett, Coll. 

Thomas Taylor's quarter, and by his dwelling 
j)lantation, — by John Wooden, Richard Wigg, 
Seaborn Batty, Doctor Ferdinandoe Batty, and 
so to the aforementioned bounds of ye land 
called Ewen upon Ewenton." 

The commission having so far concluded its 
labors, the next thing to do was the organization 
of the parish, which was done under an order of 
the commission to the sheriff requiring him to 
give notice "to ye freeholders to meet at ye 
place hereinafter mentioned on ye second Thurs- 
day in February next ensuing, and there make 
choise of six ye most able men to be a vestry for 
the parish as aforesayd, and that ye clerk issue 
out summonses to ye sheriff for that purpose, 
which was accordingly done. Att which day the 
freeholders of ye i3arish of Herring Creek*^ and 



64 CHURCH LIFE 

part of West River liundred (id est) St. James' 
parish at ye day and time aforesaid mett att ye 
house of John Willson Sen. in ye said parish 
and then and there did ellect and choose for 
their vestry, viz: 

Hon. Thos. Tench Esq. , Mr. James Rigbie, 
Mr. Selli Biggs, ' Mr. Nicholas Turrett, 

Oapt. Wm. Holland, Caj^t. Robert Lockwood. 

The parish was thus organized, and in the 
following April the vestry elected the Church 
wardens, Mr. Wm. Holland and Mr. Abraham 
Brickhead, to serve for the ensuing year. Their 
first care was to qualify themselves for their 
office, and to do so they provided themselves 
with a copy of the law under Avhich they were 
acting; according to which, there were various 
oaths appointed by act of Parliament which they 
were compelled to take. This was not done till 
the following August. The oaths were emi- 
nently ironclad, and covered grounds which to 
our minds lie outside ecclesiastical relations, pro- 
perly so called. The only thing that can be said 
is they were in harmony with the then institu- 
tions. They were as follows: 

First, I do sincerely promise and swear that 
I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his 
Majesty King William. So help me God. 

Second, I do swear that I do from my heart 
abhor, detest and abjure, as impious and hereti- 
cal the damnable doctrine and position that 
princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope 
or any authority of the see of Rome, may be 
deposed or murthered by their subjects or any 
other whatsoever. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 65 

Third, and I do declare that no foreign prince, 
I)erson, or prelate, or potentate, hath or ought 
to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, 
prominency, or authority, ecclesiastical or spirit- 
ual within the realm of England or the domin- 
ions thereunto belonging. So help me, &c. 

There was also this test required of every 
church officer: We the subscribers do declare 
that we do believe that there is not any transub- 
stantiation in ye sacrament of the Lord' s supper 
or in the elements of bread and wine at or after 
the consecration thereof by any person or per- 
sons whatsoever. 

Also the following injunction was required to 
be given: You shall well and truly act and do — 
in every station, — without prejudice, favor or 
affection, with equal rights to all persons, and 
shall not diminish or detain from any minister 
legally qualified and presented, inducted or 
appoynted by his excellency or other ways, any 
right, perquisite or benefit given by law. So 
help you God. 

These oaths reflect the fears and jealousies of 
the times, and grew out of that period when the 
Church of England was so greatly endangered, 
as well also as the liberty of the people, in the 
last days of Charles II, and more notably in 
the time of James II, whose acts looked to the 
building up of an absolute government in Eng- 
land and the establishment of the church of 
Rome, to which both of them had conformed. 

It was also an old claim of the Roman see that 
the Pope had power to absolve subjects from 
their allegiance, thereby inciting fanatics to 
murder their rulers; a claim that had more than 



66 ' CHURCH LIFE 

once been acted upon in England. The matter 
also at this time assumed very imposing propor- 
tions when the fugitive King James was plotting 
his restoration, and was in correspondence with 
many in England who were watching by any 
available means to secure his restoration and 
thus undo the work of the Revolution; a danger 
that threatened England for more than a half 
century. The whole empire was, therefore, ex- 
ceedingly jealous, and care was taken by every 
means to provide against disloyal men getting 
an opportunity of doing harm. This was in a large 
measure the cause of the laying of restrictions 
upon Roman Catholics everywhere in the British 
Empire. The immense presumption of that 
church excited suspicion against its members. 

The parish thus established was one of thirty 
into which the province was divided. This 
division affords quite a fair opportunity for our 
seeing how the settlements were then distri- 
buted, being nearly all adjacent to the water 
courses; and the subsequent reports made from 
time to time of the condition of the parishes and 
number of families, show the relative strength of 
the population in the different sections. Much 
of the colony was not occupied at all in 1695, 
while the immense size of many of the parishes 
shows that the population in them was exceed- 
ingly scanty . For one reason of their great extent 
was that x)ersons enough might be included to 
provide for the minister of the cure a comjDe- 
tence; though often they failed to do this, as in 
some instances the income was not more than 
twenty -five or thirty pounds. What we call 
Western Maryland was then hardly known at all, 



ZiY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 67 

Prince George's County being without western 
limits. As the poi^ulation increased new coun- 
ties were set up, and also new parishes were 
created. 

When the vestry assumed charge of the parish 
they found an old church already existing, the 
church of the original Herring Creek Parish; 
and curiously enough its name has passed over 
into popular use to the present jDarish. This 
older edifice is supposed to have been situated 
near the present village of Friendship, in the 
same neighborhood with the Quaker meeting 
house whose site is still i3ointed out. This is 
likely, as Herring Creek was a focal designation 
covering that territory and was the name also 
of the meeting house. It is probable that that 
was an earlier center to a considerable population 
than a more northern point; the settlements hav- 
ing apparently generall^^ extended up the bay 
from the original capital of the colony; though 
it is true, the mouth of the Severn and the parts 
adjacent down as far as the South River district, 
had been settled long before this; chiefly, how- 
ever, by Puritans. Beside this again, there 
had been in X3revious years several clergymen in 
Calvert county, Avho could and doubtless did, 
supiDly this church. One of them was the Rev. 
John Yeo, who was in Calvert county in 1680. 
Another was- the Rev. Paul Bertrand, who was 
sent out from England about 1685 by the king in 
response to the petition of Mary Taney. He 
had died in the colony. 

When the old church had been built it is not 
possible to say, nor by whom. Previous to this 
time there had been no public provision made 



68 CHURCH LIFE 

for building cliurclies or supporting ministers; 
though efforts were made in 1676 to induce the 
X3roprietary to make such provision. His reply 
was that the four protestant ministers in the 
colony had each a plantation by which he could 
subsist. Such churches, therefore, as were built 
and kept ojDen had to be provided by private 
subscription. That the old church had been 
built many years before is evident from the fact 
that in 1695 it had to be covered anew and eight 
hundred pounds of tobacco were ordered for the 
work. For some reason, however, either because 
it was not near enough to the center of the parish, 
or because it was not sufficiently large, aided by 
the fact that the means for building were plenti- 
ful, the vestry immediately set about building a 
new edifice, the contract for which was given out 
in 1695. The means were at hand, because it was 
j)rovided for in the act of establishment that the 
tax for the support of the church should be 
levied from year to year; and when there was no 
incumbent in a parish the proceeds of the tax 
were to go to the repairing and building of 
churches. St. James' and most of the other 
parishes were in this way provided with means 
for this demand, and worthy buildings were 
erected; for when the law went into effect there 
were only three clergymen in the colony and in the 
year 1700 there were only seventeen, some of them 
having just come over. Funds therefore rapid- 
ly accumulated. 

The new church was not very pretentious. 
We have the following description of it given, 
a fair type doubtless of most of them in Mary- 
land: It was forty feet long, twenty feet wide 



. IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 69 

and twelve feet high in the side walls, with 
seven window frames and arched roof. It was to 
be finished inside with "chancell and table, with 
rayl and banisters, pnlx3it, reading desk and 
Gierke's seat, the chnrch to be seeled from top 
to bottom with half inch plank, batined in pan- 
nells, j)i^es to be built on each side of the chnrch, 
shutters to every window, the porch to be seeled 
after the same manner." The door was on the 
South side, with a porch nine feet square before 
it. The description of this j)orch as given is: "Ye 
door archt, with railes and banisters on each 
side, ye roof to be shingled as ye church." The 
capacity of such a building according to our 
present arrangement of seats would be about one 
hundred and fifty sittings, though with the old 
style of square pews economxy of space was not 
so much considered. As first built, however, 
it was sufficient for their needs, though as time 
went on it was in various ways enlarged and 
additional capacity provided. This was done 
either by increasing the length of the building 
or by the erection of galleries, or by taking into 
use a vestry house as an annex. These changes 
began as early as 1704, and were made with 
consent of the vestry by private individuals who 
obtained exclusive title to the pews so provided, 
with the right of alienating them. The number 
of taxables nearly doubled in the first twenty - 
five years of the j)arish history. 

The church was a long while in finishing, 
various causes of delay having arisen. Also 
having already a place of worshijD there was 
probably not so much urgency, and though 
money was sure to come in it would require 



70 CHURCH LIFE 

several years in which to accumulate a sufficient 
amount. Besides, though it is said that in some 
parts of Maryland the churches were without 
floors save wdiat mother earth j)rovided, certainly 
that was not the case here. If it was anywhere 
the fact it is a high testimony to the faithfulness 
of the people wdio would not wait to have the 
floors laid to commence their offering of worship, 
for the Assembly provided the means which was 
sure to be furnished in a short time. That there 
was such urgency throughout the colony for the 
beginning of holy worshii^ there can be no 
doubt. The opportunity for prayer and praise 
was not given before there was a demand for it. 

The work on St. James,' however, was not 
rudely or hastily done. For the "gentlemen" 
who had comx)osed a large part of the original 
colony, never died out in Maryland; but all the 
w^ay through the colonial days we find the evi- 
dence of their intelligence and force of character, 
not only in civil but also in social affairs; a condi- 
tion of society which West River, with its rich 
and productive soil, was always able to cherish. 
This was the case at this time, so that we find 
every care which pride and love could bestow, 
manifested for the church and its appointments; 
and though small in size and plain according to 
our present tastes, it began at once to be and 
ever continued the center of the dearest and 
holiest associations. Later down in the century 
a change took place, and much taste and art 
were shown in the building and adornment, not 
only of churches and other public buildings, but 
also of private residences. In Annapolis and the 
adjacent country especially, are such examples 



IN COLONIAL MABYLAND. 71 

presented, the architecture and elaborate work- 
manship often putting to the blush many of the 
pretentious efforts of this x)resent time. Many 
honorable mechanics doubtless came to America, 
as to a new field which with its increasing- 
wealth offered large opportunity to their genius 
and ambition; while beside there were many who 
came over involuntarily, men who, of practical 
skill in the mechanical arts, were for some 
delinquency or crime, transported from their 
homes to these shores. Tradition ascrioes more 
than one elegant piece of adornment to this class. 
There was employed in the building of the first 
church of the parish one snch involuntary 
immigrant whose time was bought by the vestry. 

From the year 1695 till 1698 there was no 
settled rector in the parish ; but the law had 
provided for that case by making provision for 
lay readers, so that we hnd one such reading the 
service regularly at two hundred pounds of 
tobacco a month. We find also a person who 
wandered about America very considerably, the 
Rev. Hugh Jones, preaching three sermons in 
the xjarish ; for which he received four hundred 
pounds of tobacco. He apj)ears a little later as 
the rector of Christ Church, Calvert co. ; a man 
who was apparently fond of his pen and used it 
sometimes skillfully in depicting to the English 
imagination scenes that had entertained him 
here. 

In the matter of providing for the church 
building in those days, there seems to have been 
some confusion as to the means. We have seen 
that one of the functions of the vestry was to sell, 
for a term of years, white women guilty of having 



72 CHURGH LIFE 

mulatto children, a crime that in the early days 
of the colony was very frequently committed, 
showing the presence of a fearfully debased class 
of society. Such cases were tried before the 
county court, the vestries only executing the 
sentence. Nor was the evil soon abated, for in 
1715 we find it re-enacted, with the same penalty 
of seven years servitude inflicted on the father, 
if a free negro. A white man also was similarly 
punished who should be the father of a mulatto, 
so strenuously did they labor against mis- 
cegenation ; while so radical was the evil that 
the law was re-enacted in 1717 and 1728. But 
the strangest part was that such children were 
supposed to bfelong to the church, and the 
pecuniary profits resulting from the crime in the 
sale both of parents and children, went to the 
use of the church, though afterwards it was 
claimed by one of the best ministers ever in the 
colony, that such persons belonged of right to the 
clergy, a claim that was apparently recognized. 

As at this time there was no rector in the 
parish we find the vestry using their oppor- 
tunity and providing out of the thirty- two 
pounds sterling they had received from the sale 
of such persons, the following articles along with 
others. Their order was that the money be laid 
out in iron work, glass and other necessary 
things ; but when the account was returned it 
was found to include in ''necessary things" a 
surplice, with a ' ' flagon, two cupps, one challice, 
and one fine mettle bason," for baptisms, as 
afterwards noted; a rather incongruous associa- 
tion one would think between the means and the 
end. The same bill of items enables us to get a 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 73 

little nearer glance at tlie old church and the 
people's estimate of comeliness ; for we find five 
pounds sterling paid for five yards of fine green 
broadcloth, with three pounds for silk fringe and 
fourteen shillings for four tassels. For embroid- 
ering the cloth, which was to be used for a iDulpit 
cushion, thirty shillings were paid ; while for 
fine down to be used in stuffing the same eleven 
shillings were given, the whole being made up, 
along with the cari^et, for ten shillings. Truly 
they had some regard for what was comely and 
beautiful ; while also they soon outgrew the 
anomaly of holy vessels being purchased in the 
way their pewter service was. For in 1701 we 
find this entry : ''The vestry of this parish, 
taking into their serious consideration with what 
decorous and good order ye Blessed Sacrament 
of the Lord's supper is administered both in 
their native country and other parts of this 
province, and out of a pious and godly desire to 
follow ye good example of their fellow christians 
and brethren of the church of England, and in 
obedience to a canon of ye same church ; have 
unanimously voted ye buying of plate to be 
used at ye offertory and celebration of ye same 
sacrament, and for ye purchase thereof subscribed 
ye several! sumes following : Coll Wm. Holland 
four pounds, Mr. Henry Hall three pounds, Mr. 
Anthony Smyth three pounds, Mr. Chris. Vernon 
three pounds, Mr. Setli Biggs four pounds, Capt. 
Kobt. Lock wood three pounds, Mr. Abraham 
Brickhead three pounds, Mathias Clark one 
pound, Morgan Jones one pound." To this we 
find added: "His Excellency Governor Blackston 
five pounds, Mr. Hen. Robison two pounds, Mr. 



74 CHURCH LIFE 

Rich. Harwood two i^ounds;" a total of tliirty- 
four pounds sterling. The plate at this time 
obtained by the fruits of this "pious and 
godly desire," is, with the loss of one piece, still 
in use in the parish. As we shall see, other 
pieces of valuable plate came to the parish by 
private gift within a few years from this time 
and are still retained. The old pewter service 
soon ceased to be mentioned in any inventory 
given. 

Among the items in the account above men- 
tioned is one for nine locks for pews. This seems 
like an anomaly. For the church was built and 
afterwards was sustained, by a general tax laid 
upon all except those incapable of labor ; the 
vestry in one instance having the jDower to make 
the assessment. The church would therefore 
apparently belong to all equally without any 
reserved rights, a free church in its most perfect 
manifestation. On the other hand the contrary 
was the fact to the degree that later down in the 
history we find it a misdemeanor, with the 
penalty of corporal infliction attached, for persons 
to "intrude" in others' pews. The pew doors 
were locked, and as it was the time of the old 
high back institution, there was probably not 
much intrusion done.. The x)ews, it would seem, 
were regarded as the private possessions only of 
a few of the wealthier planters. Pews added at 
private cost might well be regarded as the private 
possession of those w^ho were at the whole 
expense, as was sometimes the case. A free 
gallery also was an idea embodied in the plans for 
the church ; and the wardens and vestrymen had 
their oflicial seats to which strangers, especially 



ZZV^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 75 

distinguished ones, would be invited. Even in 
the Quaker meeting, it is said, there were places 
allotted for the dignitaries of the colony when 
they might be willing to grace the assembly with 
their presence. 

With all these allotments, however, the church 
was not at first too small for the public demands. 
Rather there was jealousy on the part of the 
the provincial authorities that the edifice was too 
large, and the vestry had to make their report 
that such was not the fact. The desire expressed 
was that the church should be considered as 
oi^en to all, an order passed by the vestry in 1698 
reading "that ye church wardens give notice to 
ye constables and other persons within this 
parish, (excex^t Quakers) to come to church every 
Sabbath day," a rather uncertain action on their 
part ; for if it was an invitation why did they 
not invite the Quakers, and why were the 
constables called into use ? It sounds more like 
a dim echo of other days when church going was 
obligatory and they would constrain if they 
could. The Quakers were, it is to be remembered, 
a cherished class at this time, at any rate in the 
mind of William III. and so they were not to be 
offended even by a seeming invitation. There 
were also Roman Catholics, as well probably as 
Christians of other names, residing in the parish. 
They were all "invited." The Quakers, it is 
true, had then their own meeting houses, which the 
others had not ; but this was not a sufficient 
reason ; for two years after this the church made 
a subscription to support a missionary among 
them in Philadelp)hia. Possibly the Quakers in 
Maryland were regarded as hoj)elessly incorrigi- 



76 CHURCH LIFE 

ble and too hardened to come in. They were at 
any rate not antagonized by an invitation. How 
far the rest of the workl heeded we are not told, 
only we know that soon the church had to be 
increased in size. 

All this time the Governor and council kept a 
strict surveillance over the vestry's actions, 
making inquires as to the expenditure of moneys 
and requiring a copy of the record of their 
proceedings. The inference to be made, however, 
from the records, is that there was no occasion 
for fault ; for down to the period to which we 
have come, and for a considerable time after- 
wards the whole tone of the administration was 
exceedingly worthy. Though acting under the 
law they evidently rejoiced in the law, and were 
thankful for the blessed opportunities that the 
law alone could at that time have provided, of 
worshiping God in His holy house under the 
guidance of a duly ordained minister. Every- 
thing was done decently and in order. 
Immorality for the first time found something 
like an effectual check ; and domestic misery 
growing out of the conjugal infidelity, which so 
alarmingly prevailed, was in some measure 
removed, as its cause was rebuked and held up 
to indignation and scorn. In the establishment 
Maryland received, as the unanimous voice of its 
representatives again and again declared, what 
was in the highest degree necessary for its moral,, 
social and religious welfare. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 77 



CHAPTER YI. 

THE FIRST RECTORSHIP. 

The rectorship of St. James' parish was first 
filled by a man in every way qualified to affect 
the parish permanently for good, the Rev. Henry 
Hall. He was inducted May 7th, 1698 by Gov. 
Francis Nicholson, and continued to direct the 
affairs of the parish till the year 1722, a period 
embracing many exciting episodes in Maryland 
church life, in which Mr. Hall bore a prominent 
part. The form of the induction was as follows, 
a form greatly changed in the later days of the 
colony: "Gentlemen, the bearer hereof is ye 
Rev. Mr. Henry Hall, who is sent by the Right 
Honorable and Right Reverend Father in God, 
Henry, Lord Bishop of London, in order to offi- 
ciate as a clergyman of the Church of England 
in this his majestie's x^rovince. I do, therefore, 
in his majesties name, appoint the said Mr. 
Henry Hall to officiate as a clergyman of ye 
Church of England in St. James' xDarish in Ann 
Arrundel County. 

Given under my hand and seale att ye port of 
Annapolis this seventh day of May in ye tenth 
yeare of ye reigne of our Sovereigne Lord, Will- 
iam ye third, by the grace of God of England, 



78 CHURCH LIFE 

Scotland, France and Ireland King, Defender of 
ye faith, Annoq. Dom. 1698. 

To ye vestrymen of St. James' Parish in Ann 
Arrundel County. 

This it will be observed, was entirely the work 
of the Governor, who, under the present law and 
condition of things, exercised the power of pre- 
senting and inducting The function had be- 
longed to the Lord proprietor under his charter, 
though of course he had never exercised it; and 
by the Act of Establishment the right was con- 
ferred upon the Governor. Afterwards when the 
province was restored to Lord Baltimore, though 
for many years the governor continued to induct, 
under the Act, yet finally Lord Baltimore fell 
back upon his chartered privileges, and the act 
of induction ran in his own name and the party 
presented was of his own choice. This was in 
harmony with the custom of England at that 
time, and with the common rule noAv when 
patrons present absolutely to livings; though 
there has been much agitation for the purpose of 
modifying the law within the last few years, and 
of bestowing some right and influence upon the 
parishioners in the choice of their ministers, a 
concomitant of the general development of 
liberal views in English life. Political views in 
Maryland were always liberal, and consequently 
the same agitation took place here more than a 
hundred years ago. 

For the system was found in Maryland, as it 
has been found everywhere else, liable to the 
greatest abuse, and was the occasion of great 
crying evils through the whole colonial period. 
For unworthy m^n, finding it to their advantage 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 79 

to leave the mother country, because either their 
moral or intellectual condition was so low, and 
hearing of the opportunities in Maryland where 
the demands on the part of the civil authorities 
were not so rigorous, were constantly coming 
over; and as for a long while the supply of 
clergy was never overfull, it was easy for them 
to secure positions, and to hold them for life if 
they would. For once settled, they were raised 
above the liability of prosecution; and necessar- 
ily almost, any evil tendency in them, the out- 
come of vice or ignorance, was only fostered. 
Many and bitter were the complaints on the part 
of the better class of the clergy, of the civil 
authorities, and of the vestries and people. It 
was an evil, for which, however, no correction 
could be found till the very last. The appoint- 
ment of a commissary was tried; but as he could 
do no more than warn and rebuke, his inlluence 
was feeble. At times he did assume more, and 
by some his assumption was acquiesced in; but 
that was only passing, and the office died of 
inanition. He was the representative of the 
Bishop of London, who in spiritual matters was 
ordinary for the colonies as th^ civil authority, 
the Governor, was in temjDoral relations; and one 
of the plans proposed was that the commissary 
should take evidence and transmit the same to 
the Bisho}) for final action, as only a Bishop can 
degrade a minister. In that way the civil rights 
of a rector in his parish might be vacated. 
When, however, it was attempted by the Gov- 
ernor, in 1718, to obtain from the Assembly 
sufficient power for this procedure, the clergy 
endorsing the Governor's action, the whole was 



80 CHURCH LIFE 

negatived by the non-action of tlie Assembly, 
tlieir jealousy of such authority causing them to 
lay the matter over. For America was always 
afraid of entrusting either legislative or judicial 
functions to any authority in Great Britain. 
The clergy also themselves did not heartily 
approve this scheme, the office of commissary, 
as xDossessing only delegated authority, not com- 
mending itself to their judgement as one in which 
much authority might he reasonably lodged. In 
some instances, even as it was, it was found in 
use to create a good deal of trouble and confu- 
sion. Dr. Bray's difficulty in London with Gov. 
Seymour being exceedingly painful, and Mr. 
Henderson's in America with all parties being 
disastrous in the extreme. The liability to colli- 
sion from the conflict of jurisdiction was very' 
great, and even in the hands of a discreet person, 
who still cared for the honor of his office, conflict 
was unadvoidable. It was doubtless therefore 
the leading of a wise Providence that the juris- 
diction of the commissary was not enlarged, and 
that the office Anally ceased to be exercised. 

Another plan proposed for abating the evil was 
the erection of an ecclesiastical court. This was 
attempted in 1708 by the Assembly during the 
administration of Gov. Seymour, a gentleman 
who though well spoken of for his management 
of the colony's affairs, was bitterly antagonistic 
to any administration over the church other than 
his own. This was shown in his aversion to the 
appointment of a commissary with authority 
when he was applied to by Dr. Bray. The 
support proposed for the commissary he 
utterly rejected, and expressed in no courtly 



US' COLONIAL 3IARYLAND. 81 

language his aversion for the office. The court 
proposed by the Assembly was to consist of three 
clergymen, three laymen and the Governor; and 
was to have jurisdiction even to the limit of suspen- 
ding ministers from their functions. The mention 
of such acourt shows the great need for some cor- 
rective discipline; but of course, the plan given 
excited the greatest ox3position on the part of the 
clergy, it being clearly seen at the time and stated, 
that it ignored the first princiiDle of Episcopacy. 
Protest was immediately entered with the Bishop 
of London. Governor Seymour, however, did 
not comfirm the law, on the ground that he had 
not received instructions from home in regard to 
the matter. Governor Hart afterwards was dis- 
posed, on his own motion, to examine into a case 
where complaint had been made by a vestry of 
their minister; but was deterred by the jealousy 
of the clergy against any infraction of the j)rin- 
ciples of their church government. Nor was the 
above the only occasion when the attempt was 
made to set up such a court, as we shall see further 
on, the attempt being resisted by the same object- 
tions. 

Another XDlan suggested for the cure of the 
evil was the appointment of a Bishop for the 
colonies. Sometimes the petition was for a 
Bishop for Maryland, sometimes that the settle- 
ments in America should be provided with two 
Bishops, one for the Western Islands, the other 
for the mainland. Sometimes the plea was sent in 
for a suffragan Bishop, as the representative of 
the Bishop of London in this part of his jurisdic- 
,tion. This desire was expressed, also, not only 
by the clergy, but also by the commissary, and 



82 CHURCH LIFE 

at one time by the civil authority; for all agreed 
that the only feasible mode of improving the 
condition of things was the appointment of a 
Bishop. All such pleadings, however, were 
neglected. It was proposed that the colony 
should support the Bishop, as it supported all 
its clergy. For the clergy of Maryland received 
no aid from home. The provision for his support 
was to be obtained by granting him the fees of 
the oihce for the probate of wills, and by a plan- 
tation of fifteen hundred acres of knd. This was 
the plan suggested in 1724. There was no favor- 
able response, however, from the administrators 
of colonial affairs in England. At one time it 
was feared that the appointment of Bishops for 
America would tend to create a feeling of inde- 
pendence in the colonies; and therefore of course 
It was avoided. Later on, about the year 1760, 
when the scheme was further urged by the Eng- 
lish Bishops, not for Maryland particularly, but 
for America, the matter received earnest con- 
sideration in the English Cabinet. But the 
difficulties were felt to be at the time insurmount- 
able. In 1768 both Massachusetts and Virginia 
are found in their legislative assemblies reproba- 
ting the establishment of Episcopacy in the 
colonies, a harmony of o]3inion in widely diver- 
gent quarters that could not but make i\\Q Eng- 
glish government halt in carrying out any such 
purpose. Eddis, also, writing from Maryland in 
the closing days of the colony, says: "The colo- 
nists were strongly prejudiced against the Episco- 
pal order." 

These were the various means proposed for 
disciplining the clergy and undoing the evil 



11^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 83 

effects of tlie ignorance or indifference of the 
governors in inducting unworthy men. How 
weighty was the evil it is impossible to say; for 
in such matters there is always much exaggeration. 
We have in the year 1723 a picture of ten of the 
clergy of the time, which will throw some light 
upon the question as showing the prejudices at 
work affecting the judgment, and, may be, 
suggest the ratio of unworthy men to the 
respectable. It will be observed that political 
antagonism is strongly expressed, and when we 
go back to that period, and remember the spirit 
of faction,' that slumbered,- indeed, at times, 
but was nevertheless strong, resting on the claims 
of the pretender as against the reigning house of 
Hanover, and also the ecclesiastical aversion that 
was felt against those who were of Scottish ordi- 
nation, whose forefathers were the non-jurors of 
the days of the Revolution, we are somewhat 
disposed to hesitate in accex)ting the judgment 
passed. The ten are thus described: "Peter 
Tustian, a stranger recently come from South 
Carolina, Jacob Henderson, a tory, Giles Rains- 
ford, a stickler for the present happy establish- 
ment, John Eraser, a whig, Sam. Skippon, a whig 
and an excellent scholar and good man, John 
Colebatch, a whig and one of the best of men, 
James Williamson, a Scotchman, an idiot, and a 
tory, Daniel Maynadier, a whig and reputed a 
good liver, but a horrid preacher, John Donald- 
son, a grand tory and a rake, George Ross, a 
tory and belongs to the society." ^N'othing it will 
be observed is said to the disparagement of any 
whig except that one is said to have been a good 
liver, which may mean more than is expressed; 



84 CHURCH LIFE 

wliile, if it were possible to stigmatize a tory it was 
done. The school of Dean Swift had hardly 
died out yet, and it is possible that men in some 
degree appeared worse than they were becanse 
of the bitterness of political prejudice together 
with the antagonism of English and Scotch 
churhmen, of 'which latter there were always 
many in the colony. 

The condition of things, however, was without 
question, bad enough. To this the testimony is 
very abundant. Some of the clergy also were 
extremely illiterate and in no way qualified for 
their high duties, by which also they destroyed 
their power for good. Marvel was even expressed 
how some of them could ever have obtained or- 
dination. Maryland, by the privileges and the 
security it enjoyed, was made to suffer ills that 
other colonies' escaped. The establishment was 
not an unmixed good. 

The statement above made that the antagonism of 
persons had something to do in giving color to the 
reputation of the Maryland clergy at this time, is 
eminently justified in the history of the adminis- 
tration of the second commissary of the colony, the 
Rev. Jacob Henderson. The Rev. Henry Hall, 
the first rector of St. James' Parish, had, before 
Mr. Henderson, been appointed commissary of 
the whole colony, but had declined the honor 
absolutely. This was given at the time as the 
onlv reason why Gov. Hart did not suggest his 
name to the Bishop of London f oi' appointment 
in place of Mr. Henderson. He was a man of 
very great force of character, and also apparently 
of considerable temper ; as we find him, soon 
after coming into the parish, going to Quaker 



ZiY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 85 

meeting, and npon bein^' insulted, threatening to 
trounce the offenders. His administration of the 
parish was very successful, for the church emi- 
nently prospered, and there is no evidence of 
such wrangling and disputing as we hnd in sub- 
sequent periods. The congregation loved and 
cherished the church. 

The Rev. Mr. Henderson, the new commis- 
sary, was a man not unlike Mr. Hall in tem- 
perament, but also, he was imperious and not in- 
disposed to magnify his office ; a good man, who 
afterwards came to be highly honored, and in the 
administration of his i3arisli was highly success- 
ful ; also in the use of his private fortune he was 
very generous. He enjoys the honor of having 
had erected to his memory in the church of his 
former cure, a commemorative window, an honor 
which probably Mr. Hall alone shares with him 
of all the clergy of that day. Though commis- 
sioned in 1715, we do not find him assuming the 
duties of his oflnce till 1717. There had been no 
commissary since Dr. Bray's time in the colony. 
Mr. Henderson having convened the clergy, at the 
very first meeting there began a feud between 
these men, which continued to be a matter of dis- 
turbance for years, in the midst of which crimi- 
nation and recrimination were freely indulged 
in. According to the record Mr. Henderson 
called upon the clergy j)resent to produce their 
letters of ordination and license ; and ux)on Mr. 
Hall's doing so the commissary put the papers 
in his bag, to examine them at his leisure. This 
Mr. Hall immediately resented, demanding the 
return of his property, saying, ' ' that if the 
Bishop of London, or even the king himself 



8(5 CHURCH LIFE 

should possess himself of his property he would 
resist the usurjmtion." The commissary refused 
to restore them and Mr. Hall caused a warrant 
to be issued for their recovery. At this, of 
course, Mr. Henderson was deeply offended and 
the whole matter was carried before the Bishop 
of London whom Mr. Henderson thought to be 
insulted in his person. The Governor of the 
colony and the clergy generally, took sides with 
Mr. Hall, the Governor particularly bearing- 
witness to the Bishop of his great worth. The 
Bishop in his reply justilied Mr. Hall, and 
promised that if Mr. Henderson should ]3ersist in 
being troublesome to his brethren he "would 
take proper means to give satisfaction, particu- 
larly to Mr. Hall, whose character I am so well 
l^leased with." 

The feud, however, reached such i^roportions 
that in 1718 when the attempt was made to 
strengthen the disciplinary power of the Bishop 
by securing the recognition of the same by the 
colonial legislature, it was represented to Mr. 
Henderson by his brethren that his cause must 
cease and the charges against Mr. Hall be 
absolutely withdrawn ; probably because it was 
feared that if Mr. Henderson was to be the one 
to administer discipline for the Bishop his 
conduct to Mr. Hall could not commend the plan. 
The attempt, however, failed, and Mr. Henderson 
X)robably was largely the cause of it, for the 
measure had strong supporters. The commissary 
at this time was very unpopular with both clergy 
and laity, and complaints of diiferent kinds were 
brought against him, His loyalty to the church 
was questioned, and he seems to have been 



/iV" COLONIAL MARYLAND. 87 

generally reprehended. His difficulty with Mr. 
Hall for years rankled in him. Old age, however, 
seems at last to have mellowed his sj^irit and 
time has done much for his memory. He died 
in the year 1751 ; but for seventeen years he had 
ceased to do the duties of his office. In 1730 he 
had been made commissary of the whole province. 
He was the last one to bear the commission ; as 
it was found to be practically profitless for any 
good X)uri30se. 

It was in 1717 the commissary issued the 
following enquiries, prepared by the Bishop of 
London, which were to be answered by the 
church wardens under oath. They w^ere of a 
nature to excite jealousy and antagonism in all 
quarters, and would now appear to us exceed- 
ingly unwise. Similar questions issued since 
our ecclesiastical independence, have excited 
much bitterness. These enquiries were arranged 
under five titles, the first of which bore upon the 
performance of his duties by the minister, and 
demanded of the church wardens whether he was 
of sober life and conversation, w^hether he was 
diligent in the instruction of children, whether 
he faithfully observed the laws and rubrics of 
the church, duly administered Holy Communion, 
gave faithful attention to the care of the 
parish, and read the canons, thirty nine articles, 
&c., as appointed. The second enquiry was 
about the condition and care of the church 
building and furniture. The third was about 
the morals of the people of the parish, and their 
attendance upon worship, and demeanor in 
church, and also as to persons above sixteen 
years old receiving the Holy Communion three 



88 CHURCH LIFE 

times a year; for as confirmation was not admin- 
istered in the colony, an age liad been fixed wlien 
persons were expected to j)i'^sent themselves to 
commune. Also enquiry was made about the 
heads of families refusing to send their children 
and servants to be catechised. The fourth title 
covered the matter of the faithfulness of church 
officers, while the fifth sought into other matters, 
such as the faithfulness of schoolmasters 
where there were any, the vestry's faithfulness 
to their trust of tobacco on hand, and other 
things not included under the other heads. 

Such an examination could not fail to excite 
much opposition, especially as it is said there was 
a good deal of scepticism and immorality in the 
colony at the time, the former particularly in 
high quarters; qualities that do not favor the too 
prying eyes of the church. Beside that, it could 
only excite antagonism without correcting the 
evil. For though the queries might be pro- 
pounded they could not be made legally effec- 
tive. The ordinary might through his agent 
learn of the trouble, of the delinquency of which 
the rector or the church officers might be guilty, 
or of the neglect of the parishioners to attend to 
their various duties ; but there his jurisdiction 
ended, and as we have seen, the attempt made in 
the following year to secure to the Bishop 
power in the |)remises, failed. The commissary' s 
authority therefore excited a great deal more 
doubt and jealousy than it did good. It was, 
however, in some degree a bond of union for the 
clergy of the colony. It brought them together 
from time to time. It in some measure restrained 
the liability of the clergy -to fall into excesses. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 89 

Tlie commissary could exliort and denounce, and 
so far place a delinquent rector nnder tlie ban, 
and in various tilings lie could give instruction 
in tliose matters wliicli an isolated minister, how- 
ever conscientious, is apt to lose sight of. For it 
requires a moment's consideration to enable us 
to realize the condition of things at that time. 
The parishes were sometimes forty or fifty miles 
long, and in one case the report was made that 
the parish was forty miles square. In another 
instance the re^^ort states the length as sixty 
miles. The iDarishes also were sx)ai;sely settled, 
sometimes not averaging one family to the square 
mile. The clergy also were very poor as a rule, 
and the facilities for communication with the 
outside world small. In such a state of things it 
is readily seen that a convocation of the clergy 
from time to time would be a great blessing, 
affording intercourse with their brethern, Avhile 
a commissary, who had a kind heart and good 
judgement, would be able to direct their attention 
to many things that, in the retreats of their own 
cures, would never occur to them. Even with 
our modern opportunities a convocation of the 
scattered ministers of a diocese, is found to be of 
great value in broadening the sympathies and 
extending the reach of thought. With no cur- 
rent literature, and with few standard works, 
(for libraries were not universal and in many 
cases very small), the clergy had but few of the 
opportunities for culture and occux)ation which 
fall to our lot. The absence of such may be one 
explanation of why various of them fell into 
unfortunate habits. Besides the standard of 
learning was far lower and the scrutiny into the 



90 CHURCH LIFE 

life much less for those who would enter the 
ministry then than now; and many men entered 
holy orders who could have been kept in right 
courses only by the loftiest zeal or the circum- 
stances of a high state of society. In the isolation 
of a Maryland parish and amidst a generally rude 
people it is no marvel that some fell away from 
rectitude. Also it will be seen that to forbid the 
clergy to assemble, as was afterwards done, was 
in every way a calamity. 



US' COLONIAL MARYLAND. 91 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PARISH. 

Returning to matters more strictly i^arocliial ; 
from the year of tlie full establishment of the 
church we find many things that strongly attract 
the attention. Amongst these ranks eminently 
the collection of libraries which the first 
commissary so freely dispensed to the various 
parishes. These, as we have seen, varied very 
greatly in numbers ; among the thirty given one 
numbering as many as a thousand and ninety-hve 
volumes, and another only two. Others got ten, 
fifteen, forty, sixty, one, two or three hundred ; 
the distribution being as far as can be perceived, 
without any definite rule ; which w^as the more 
remarkable"^ as the books were for the use of the 
minister, and therefore as much needed in one 
place as in another. Dr. Bray's beneficence was 
limited only by his ability, and he must have 
been controlled by circumstances of which we 
are now ignorant The books were given in 
charge of the minister of the parish ; who was to 
submit them from time to time to the vestry for 
examination. The governor also had the power 
to appoint a visitor to inspect ; and upon the 
discovery of neglect or loss the rector could be 



92 CHURCH LIFE 

sued for the damage done. Some of the books 
are still in existence in various places ; though 
after having been cared for faithfully during tJie 
whole colonial period, in the days of disorder 
after the Revolution they became scattered and 
many of them have i3erished. 

The number that came to St. James' parish in 
1698 was about one hundred and fifty volumes, 
twenty of them being in folio, nineteen in quarto 
and the remainder in octavo. Most of them were 
in English, though a few were in Latin. Nor 
were they exclusively theological, but embraced 
also a small number of historical and scientific 
works. In theology, however, the collection 
was rich, and was as comprehensive as that 
number of volumes could well be made. Some 
of them were given by their authors , and a 
review of the dates of publication will surprise 
one at the activity of that time. What an 
immense convenience and comfort they were to 
the parochial clergy of Maryland can readily be 
imagined. 

Previous to the reception of these books, it 
had been the intention of somebody to donate 
various books, through the governor, to the 
parishes, as will appear from the following 
section of a proclamation of January, 1697(0. S) ; 
"I do also in his majestie's name command yt 
ye vestry of each respective parish return me 
under their hands by ye next provinciall court 
or sooner, a full account of what great church 
Bibles, common prayer bookes, and bookes of 
homely s they have not received from me as a 
gift to their parish ; foure ordinary Bibles, four 
of ye Rev'd Doct. Williams' catechisms, sticht, 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 93 

as alsoe four of liis Lawfullness of Common 
Prayer, Worship, etc., sticlit, and one Whole 
Dutty of Man. And if they did not receive one 
ye Revd. Doct. Bray's Catecheticall Lectures. 
All x^ersons to whom this is directed, are not to 
faile to comply with these my commands, as they 
will answer to ye contrary at theire perrill. 

Signed, Ff Nicholson." 

The vestry escaped the " perrill " by replying 
immediately that they had not received church 
Bibles or any other books from the liberality of 
the unknown donor. 

They did, however, in 1703 receive a second 
invoice from the Rev. Dr. Bray, containing 
seventeen different lots ; among which was a 
number of Bibles, prayer books, catechetical 
lectures, sermons and tracts. The tracts were 
for free distribution, while the Bibles, prayer 
books, lectures and sermons were to be put' in 
the pews to be used by the congregation before 
or during service. The tracts, lectures and 
sermons, were of the most practical character 
and well adapted to the needs of the community. 
Nor was this the only provision made for such 
an object ; for besides one or two smaller gifts of 
books we find mention made in 1709 of a legacy 
of twenty pounds sterling from Mr. James Rigbie, 
(a vestryman and otherwise a distinguished 
patron of the parish, as we shall see) ''to^be laid 
out in good and godly books." Whether the 
vestry ever recovered this amount from the 
executor is not so certain, for we have repeated 
notices of their endeavors to do so. The gift 
shows, however, a strong desire to counteract 
the existence of scepticism, and the bad influence 



94 CHURCH LIFE 

of sceptical works ; the use of which had been 
fashionable in the colonies as well as in England 
now for many years. It shows also that the 
back- woods of Maryland was not a dreary waste, 
but that intellectually, morally and spiritually 
there were good men in work and prayer 
endeavoring to promote the cause of God and of 
man. 

Another item of interest is the donations that 
were from time to time through this period 
made to the suj^port and more proper ordering 
of the church. It would be naturally supi30sed 
that, provision being made by law, individual 
efforts would hardly be called out. The 
fact that tiie sheriff made his regular call 
upon the planter and everyone else, and 
demanded the tax for his family and household, 
would put to sleep, one would think, all more 
kindly consideration ; and the minister, as 
appointed under the law without the parishioners' 
consent would be left to be provided for by the 
law. But such was not the fact. Personal care 
and attention were bestowed upon the matter, 
so that in a report of twenty parishes, made in 
3724, thirteen had glebes, others possibly might 
have had them had the will of the testators been 
in all cases carried out ; for in 1722 a bill was 
]3assed by the assembly providing that hence- 
forth, if the purpose of the deceased could be 
be clearly made out from his will, any informal- 
ity should not prevent the church from receiving 
the property devised. For glebes were almost 
always of private gift, though the law provided 
that where there was a sufficient accumulation 
of the clerical tax during a vacancy in the 



IJY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 95 

rectorship of a paristi, it should be applied to 
the buying and stocking of glebes. Though as 
this was not the only use to which it could be 
applied, but to the building and repairing of 
churches as well, as was done in St. James in 
1695, it is likely that but few, if any glebes were 
purchased. Some of these tracts of land had 
been given even before the act of establishment, 
men in the earlier desolation yearning for the 
X^reaching of the word. There are parishes in 
Maryland to-day that are in as full a degree or 
more supx)orted by the gifts of those olden times 
as they are by the contributions of this present 
generation. In some instances indeed the 
present generation does nothing, the generosity 
of other days affording the whole sujDport of the 
minister of the parish ; though worse than this 
again, there have been generations since those 
times that have alienated, such church property 
for some passing demand rather than give of their 
own means for the purpose. 

Among the parishes that received such substan- 
tial tokens of loving regard was St. James, and 
that in no scant measure. The first gift in land 
it received, is noticed in the year 1700, and came 
by will from a vestryman, James Rigbie, and his 
wife, the same who donated the twenty pounds 
sterling for books for the parish. The tract 
contained one hundred acres, and included what 
is now in the possession of the church, though 
forty acres have been alienated since his day. 
It was the loving act of husband and wife sepa- 
rately, each contributing one half the amount. 
A second donation was made of a farm of over 
seven hundred acres originally, known as Wrigh- 



96 CHURCH LIFE 

ton, lying iijoon the Patuxent river, the gift by 
will of Nicholas Tnrrett, also one of the first 
vestrymen. The will was dated 1696, though 
mention is first made of the land in 1719, the 
church having had a reversionary right according 
to its terms. This tract long continued in 
possession of the parish, though it was never 
apparently very profitable. It has since been 
sold, having dwindled away to about five hun- 
dred acres, and the proceeds invested otherwise, 
yielding to-day a revenue. By the terms 
of Mr. Turrett's will this property was left 
to the parish for the use of the minister, while 
the glebe about the church was left to the 
minister of the x)arish. 

What the two legacies have been to St. James 
it is imj)ossible to estimate. There have been 
periods in the past when the very life of the 
X)arish has been dependent upon them. Those 
two old men built better than they knew. The 
parish from the scarcity of parishioners, or from 
the stringency of the times, or from the luke- 
warmness of the people, has been occasionally 
almost ready to die, as some parishes in Mary- 
land have died, or have only a name to live. 
The income from these sources has, however, 
tided it over its difficulties, and when times have 
brightened, has given a basis for the assurance 
of hope to those who loved and prized the old 
name and its memories, as well as the great cause 
of which it had always been the powerful instru- 
ment. The income has been enough to excite 
confidence, but never enough to cripple effort; 
and the result has been, that while in the rural 
parishes of Maryland frequent changes of min- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 97 



^L-. 



isters have taken place, St. James is marked for ^ 
the comx3aratively long duration of the residence '^M^^ 
of many of its pastors. It is also worthy of 
remark that the j)eriod of such generosity was 
the very early one of the lirst decade after the X'^nM 



I 



passage of the first act of Establishment, and 
that from that day down to this, such generosity 
has never been emulated. The j)arish has had 
many good and excellent men, who have done f ^i^A 
their duty generously, according to the j)assing 
demand; but no one in the whole — nearly two 
hundred years since that time — has done any- 
thing of substantial moment for the permanent 
welfare of the church. Other acts of considerate 
affection have been done, as the gift of a bell in 
1706, and various pieces of plate, as we shall 
hereafter see, but since the year 1700 no one has 
sought to associate his name with the permanent 
life of the parish. Why that period should 
have been so marked it is difficult to say. It 
suggests, however, that the church as established, 
was something very dear to the hearts of some of 
the peo^Dle; and that there was, as all the records 
prove, a high degree of piety in the backwoods 
of Maryland, a love for the church and her 
ways; for worldly men do not make such contri- 
butions to the cause of religion. 

We have seen how the Establishment was 
provided for, and the support of the clergy 
secured. While this in the beginning was gen- 
erally acquiesced in, the Quakers and Roman 
Catholics alone aj^parently offering virulent 
opposition, and acquiesced in because it was 
recognized as being the best possible thing under 
the circumstances, vet as time went on and the 



98 GHURGH LIFE 

recollection of the first benefits wore away, tlie 
system was made to encounter a good many diffi- 
culties. In the first place, trouble frequently 
aroso between the clergy and the people, with 
the result of trials at law, which were made some- 
times to drag on for years, or even carried by ap- 
peal to England; the result of which was, of course, 
an alienation between pastor and people. The 
members of the vestry were protected in their 
private estates in such suits, as was right; but 
the effect was, that sometimes, with unj)opular 
men, forced upon them by the governor, they 
were reckless about going into such litigation, 
and having no personal responsibility, were a 
little too much disposed to hector the parsons. 
As it happened, they sometimes met a worthy 
antagonist and the result was unfortunate, as 
neither knew how to yie^d 

From the very beginning such difficulties 
arose, though of course they frequently were 
easily adjusted, with good will on each side. 
The first rector of St. James in the commence- 
ment of his rectorship, had such a trouble. It 
seemed to be a feeling entertained by many of 
the parsons that under the law they were entitled 
to the whole income of the year in which they 
were inducted, though a portion of it had already 
expired when they began their ministry. The 
rector of St. James under this impression, claimed 
the whole tax for the year 1698, and the vestry, 
after consideration, ordered it to be paid to him, 
on the condition that should it be found an error 
of interpretation the amount would be refunded. 
Upon the determination of the matter the deci- 
sion was in favor of the vestry, and the 



I]^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 99 

rector promptly complied with tlie agreement. 
But it was not only between pastor and people 
that difRcnlties arose. It w^as also between the 
clergy and laity of the colony. For there probably 
never was perfect confidence on the part of either 
in the other, that x^erfect harmony that made all 
relations smooth. It was only the Roman Catho- 
lics who were disfranchised, and consequently 
there were always found in the Assembly of 
Maryland many non-conformists; the number in 
1718 being said to be about one-third. In the be- 
ginning all such had welcomed the Establishment 
as the best possible thing for the colony; but 
now the clergy always beheld in them, and 
doubtless with some reason, an occasion for 
anxiety, believing that if in any way the friends 
of the Establishment became divided, this 
minority would be used against the Church. In 
the last days of the colony, when politics ran 
very high, such a danger became very imminent, 
and a great champion of the church, Mr. 
Boucher, had to remind certain prominent poli- 
ticians that though churchmen and vestrymen, 
they were most inconsistently, by their inliuence, 
leagued with the force of the opposition. It was 
this jealousy and fear doubtless that stimulated 
the cry, so often raised about the time above 
given and afterwards, of the attempts to starve 
out the clergy by the division of parishes. Even 
the best men raised this cry. That it w^as with- 
out reason we may well believe, in most if not all 
cases; for the division of the parishes must have 
by this time become necessary in various portions 
of the colony, from the large increase of popula- 
tion and the demand for more places of worship, 



100 CHURCH LIFE 

and of course more ministers. But the clergy 
could not always see that, and sometimes it was 
a great grievance, as to divide made the revenue 
so small that the alternative was to vacate or 
starve. 

This minority became, also, formidable on 
other occasions; for unless the majority was 
united the balance of power was with it. But 
majorities are not likely to be always united. 
Security itself is apt to breed occasions of dis- 
traction and separation, by new issues arising. 
So the clergy felt and saw, and apprehended 
with good reason. For if it were a question of 
strengthening the Bishop' shands for discipline, 
the minority could be relied upon to ]3revent it. 
If it were a question of reducing the clergy's 
salary, they were trustworthy coadjutors. If it 
were a question of erecting a court, violating the 
idea of Episcopacy, for trying clergymen; the 
voice of the minority was ready, as they knew 
nothing of the idea of Episcopacy except to 
abominate it. And this continued through the 
whole period of the existence of the Establish- 
ment, so that the clergy could never enjoy ]3er- 
fect quietness and peace. As to the reduction of 
their salaries by the reduction of the tax, that 
was a matter never for many years truly at rest; 
because it was readily presented as a popular 
measure, the people being always desirous of a 
reduction in taxation. Also, it could be with 
great plausibility urged and defended by rex)re- 
senting many of the salaries as excessively large, 
and also by seizing ui3on two or three unusually 
prosperous seasons, such as tobacco planters 
have from time immemorial had, when prices 



TJV COLONIAL MARYLAND. 101 

ranged high ; the popular mind being oblivious 
of the fact that such seasons are always followed 
by years of depression. It is true the colonial 
authorities attempted to prevent this variation 
by limiting the supply through lixing the amount, 
so much for each laborer, to be raised on each 
plantation. This probably was effective, as far 
as it went, for it continued to be the practice for 
years ; and counters were regularly appointed by 
the vestries, the appointing power under the law. 
Good care, however, was ta^^en that the clergy 
should not profit by this ordinancey, for a price 
was fixed for commutation, so that with tobacco 
very high, the planters would pay over to the 
sheriff for the parson's use cash or grain, and with 
it low the tax was paid in the long leafed cur- 
rency. The clergy did not, however, always have 
to contend alone in this matter, for the people 
became as much irritated against various colonial 
officers on account of their excessive fees, as 
against the clergy ; and with better reason, for 
charges in the various offices were generally very 
extravagant. A provision for commutation, then, 
affected them as much as it did the parsons, and 
without much affection, may be, for the clergy's 
cause, these influential men were sometimes 
found united with the clergy in the same battle. 
The difference in the value of parishes was great, 
some yielding from four to Ave times as much as 
others, some in 1767 paying only about one hun- 
dred pounds, while the cost of living in the .mat- 
ter of all things brought from abroad was very 
high. The clergy from time to time complained 
that when they were paid in tobacco it was only 
in the inferior grades ; for. so that it was mer- 



102 CHURCH LIFE 

€lian table it seems to have Deen receivable. 
We have seen how parish expenses were to 
be paid, by a special levy for that purpose from 
year to year, granted by the county court to the 
parish applying. The amount of this levy 
varied, but was never over ten pounds per poll, 
the amount provided for in the act of 1702. 
Sometimes the vestry immediately put in the 
aj)plication, but sometimes they acted only for 
parishioners who were first called upon to decide 
what ought to be done and what amount of tax 
might be necessary. The county court also had 
the power of granting or refusing; a liberty they 
sometimes exercised, in obedience i30ssibly to 
some passing jealousy of the people at some 
supposed recklessness in the vestry. The earlier 
law of 1699 gave the vestry itself the power of 
assessing for this purpose, betraying an amount 
of confidence which a cooler after-judgement 
seems to have modified. As current expenses 
meant not only the keeping of the church and 
chapel yard in a decent and proper condition, 
but also renovating, restoring and rebuilding, as 
for instance, a vestry house when there was 
occasion, the amount asked for and obtained 
was not excessive. The whole plan of the 
Establishment was an economical one as com- 
pared with our later schemes ; one of its virtues 
being that none could shirk duty as many do 
now, but all had to bear a fair proportion of 
the burden. The only drawback was that some, 
though less than one- third, of the people who 
worshiped in other places and derived no spiritual 
benefit from the Establishment, had to pay a 
like proportion with everybody else to the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 103 

Establishment. It seemed like a hardship ; 
though the indirect benefits in the good order 
and elevation of society, to which the church 
ministered as no other body could, doubtless 
compensated for any amount so levied upon non- 
conformists. 



104 CHURCH LIFE 



1698. BooKES Received by ye Reverend Me. 
Henry Hall, ye of May. 

A catalogue of Bookes belonging to ye library 
of St. James' parish in Ann Arrundel county in 
Maryland, sent by ye Reverend Dr. Bray, and 
marked thus : belonging to ye library of Herring 
Creeke Ann Arrundel county. 

BOOKES IN FOLIO — TWENTY. 

PRINTED IN 

1 Biblia Sacra, &c., ab imp. Tremellio 

and Fran, Juno, &c. 1603 

2 Poll Synopsis Criticorum, vol. 4 in 

libr'sS 1696 

3 Dr. Hammond upon ye New Testa- 

ment 1696 

4 Tlie Cambridge Concordance 1698 

5 Mr. Hookers Ecclesiasticall Politie 

in 8 bookes 1682 

6 dementis Recognition : libri 10 &c. 

Opus eruditit D: Irenai : epis: 

Lugd advs, Hares: &c. lib. 5 1526 

7 Dr. Jeremiah Tavlor's Ductor Dubi- 

tantium ^ 1660 

8 Bishoi3 Pearson on ye Apostles 

Creed 1683 



IW COLONIAL MARYLAND. 105 

.9 Bishop Sanderson— 36 Discourses, 

life and preface 1689 

9 Bislioj) Sanderson — 21 Discourses 1686 

10 Philippi a Lamborcli &c. , Tlieologia 

Christiana 1695 

11 A: B: Tillotson's workes 1696 

12 The Jesuites Morals by Dr. Tonge 1679 

13 Du Pins Ecclesiasticall History vol. 

7, books 3 1696 

14 A view of Universall History from 

ye creation to ye yeare 1680 by 
Fran : Tallents 

15 Thomaa Aquinatis summa totius 

Theologie in 3 P : B : 1622 

16 Blomes Geography and Cosmogra- 

phy translated from Y arenius and 

taken from Mons : Sanson 1693 

17 Ludon : le Blane Theses Theologicae 1683 

18 Sir Richard Baker's Cronicle of ye 

Kings of England 1696 

19 Q. Sept. Florentis Tertuliani opera 

qe. hacienus rej)eriri potuerunt 
omnia 1590 

20 Dr. Bray's Catecheticall Lectures 

vol. 1st, or lectures on ye Church 
Catechism 1697 

BOOKES IN QUARTO MARKED AS ABOVE. 

1 Robertson: Thesaurus Greece linguae 1676 

2 Ejusdem Thesaurus lingut^ Sanctae 1680 

3 Lingu?B Romance luculent : novum 

Diction. 1693 

4 Luijts (Johannis) Introductio ad 

Geographium 1692 

5 Ejusdem Institutio Astronomica 1695 



106 CHURCH LIFE 

6 The Holly Bible with ye Common 

Prayer 1696 

7 Francisci Tiirrentini Compendm. 

Theologize 1695 

8 Vict : Bithneri Lyra Prophetica 1650 

9 Dr. Parker's Demonstratio of ye law 

of nature 1681 

10 Dr. Bray's Bibliotheca Parochialis 1697 

11 A: B: Leighton's practicall com- 

mentary on ye first epistle generall 
of St. Peter in 2 vols, first in 1693 

second in 1694 

12 Ejusden Prjelectiones Theologicse 1693 

13 Dr. Sherlock Concerning Providence 1697 

14 Dr. Patrick's Parable of ye Pil- 
grime 1607 

15 Lord B : p : of London-Derry Expo- 

sition on ye Ten Commandments 

with two other discourses 1692 

16 A Commonplace Booke of ye Holly 

Bible 1697 

17 Dr. Comber's Church History clear- 

ed from Roman forgeries 1695 

18 Jonathan Stolham' s Reviler rebuked 1657 

BOOKES IN OCTAVO — VIZ : 

1 An adridgm't of Sir Walter Ra-. 

leigh' s History of ye world in 5 
bookes 1698 

2 The B : p : of Bath and Wells Com- 

mentary on ye 5 bookes of Moses 

in two volumes 1694 

3 Dr. Sherlock on Death and Judg- 

ment 1694 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 107 

4 Lovis le Comptes Memoirs and ob- 

servations 1697 

5 The workes of ye author of ye whole 

dutty of man in two volumes 1697 

6 Fran : Paheopolitanus Divine Dia- 

logues 2 volumes 1668 

7 The Septuagint &c. 2 volumes 1665 

8 Sanct Salvianus De Gubernatione 

Dei &c. 1683 

9 Elis de Articulis : 39 Ecclesi^ An- 

glican?e 1696 

10 The plaine man's guide to Heaven 1697 

11 B : p : King concerning ye invention 

of men in ye worship of God 169- 

12 The Christian Monitor 169- 
Mr. Wake's Preparation for death 168- 

13 Lactantii opera omnia 168- 

14 Episc : Sanderson de Obligatione 

Conscienti?e 169- 

15 Idem de Juramento promission. 16 — 

16 Daniel Williams of gospell truth. 1695 

17 Nath. Spinckes of Trust in God 1696 

18 Reflections upon ye bookes of Holly 

Scripture, 2 volumes 1688 

19 Mr. Dod well's two letters of advice 1691 

20 Xenophon de Institutione Cyrii 

Greece 1698 

21 Henipin' s New^ discovery of America 1698 

22 Dr. Bates's Harmony of ye Divine 

attributes 1697 

23 A: B: Leighton's Discourses 1692 

24 Dr. Comber on ye Com' on Prayer 1609 

25 An Inquirey after Hax)piness part 

ye 1st 1697 
25 An Inquirey after Happiness i3art 

ye 2nd 1696 



108 CHURCH LIFE 

26 Part ye third by ye author of practi- 

cal! Christianity 1697 

27 Dr. Scott's Christian life, part ve 

first, vol 1st " 1692 

and i3art ye second of vol. ye second 169 i 

28 Dr. Connant's Discourses 2 vols 1697 

29 Grotius de jure Belli et Pacis 1651 

30 Dr. Busbig's Gr^c^B Graniatices 

Rudiment. 1693 

31 Dr. Jereni. Taylor of Holly Living 

and Dying 1695 

32 Rays' s Wisdom of God in ye 

Workes of Creation 1692 

33 Dr. Pierce Pacilicator : Orthodoxo 

Theolog: Corpuscul: 1685 

34 B: P: Burnets Pastorall Care 1692 

35 P: Lombardi Sententiarum libri . 

4: Colonial 1609 

36 Doctor Stradlings Discourses 1692 
37Theopli: Dorington's Family De- 
votion, 4 vols. 1695 

38 Amesius de Conscienta 1631 

39 Dr. Bray of ye Baptismal Covenant 1697 

40 Dr. Falkner's Vindication of Litur- 

gies 1681 

41 His Libertas Ecclesiastica 1683 

42 Ye B: P: of Bath & Wells on ye . 

Church Catechism 1686 

43 Clerici Ars Critica 1698 

44 Doct Barron on ye Apostles Creed 1697 

45 The Snake in ye Grass 1698 
. 46 B: p: Stillingtieet Concerning 

Christ's Satisfaction 1697 

47 His Vindication of ye Doctrine of 

ye Trinity 1697 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 109 

48 His Discourses, 2 volumes 1697 

49 A Discourse Concerning Lent in 2 

parts ■ 1696 

50 William Wilson of Religion and 

ye Resurrection 1694 

51 Dr. Asliton Concerning Deatlibed- 

Repentance 1696 

62 H. Stepliani Catecliismus Grseco- 

Latinus 1604 

53 Biblia Yulgata p. Robertum Ste- 

plianum 1555 

54 The Life and Meditations of M: A: 

Antoninus R; Emp. 1692 

65 Abbadies Vindication of ye Trueth 

of Xtian Religion ]3art 1st 1694 

— Abbadies Vindication of ye Trueth 

part 2d. 
6Q The Practicall believer, in two parts 1 688 

57 Wingates Arithmetic 1694 

58 Sr. Math. Hales Contemplations 

Morall and Divine in 2 parts 1695 

59 Fran: Buggs Picture of Quakerism 
in 2 parts 1697 
W. A. of Divine Assistance 1698 
His Christian Justification stated 1670 
His Animadversions on yt p.t of 

Robt. Ferguson's book, entitled 
ye Interest of Reason in Reli- 
gion which treats of Justification 1676 

61 His Serious and Friendly Address 

to ye Non-conformists 1693 

— His State of ye Church in Future 

Ages 1684 

— The Mystery of iniquity Unfolded 1675 

62 W: A: Catholicisme 1683 



60 < 



110 CHURCH LIFE 

— The Danger of Enthusiasm Dis- 

covered 1674 

f W. A. of Humility 1681 

I Of ye nature, series and order of 

63 <j Occurences 1689 
His pursuasion to Peace and Unity 

among Xtians 1680 

64 The First. r^^i,,^.. ^f a. t.. ,,. 1698 

65 The Second. J ^?i™^^ ?^ ^.' ^' ^^' 1696 
m The Third. Tillot^son's Discours- ^^^ 

67 The Fourth. [ ^^ P^^^' ^^ ^^- ^^^^^ 1697 

— Dr. Tillotson's Rule of Faith 1670 

68 Dr Stillingfleet's Reply to J. S. 3rd 

Appendix &c 1675 

69 The Unreasonable: of Atheisme 

made Manifest 1669 

70 Dr. Hammond de Confirmatione 1665 

71 Dr. Wake, Concerning Swearing, 

Duplicate 1696 

72 HisDiscoursesonSeverall Occasions 1697 

73 Dr. Cockburn's Fifteen Discourses 169- 

73 Ascetecks or ye Heroick vertue of 

ye Ancient Christian Anchorites 

and Coenobites 1691 

74 Theologica Mistica : 2 Discourses 

Concerning Devine Communica- 
tion to Souls Duly Disposed 1697 

75 Dr, Goodman's Seven Discourses 1697 

76 Dr. Horneck's Severall Discourses 

upon ye fifth chapter of Matthew, 

vol. ye 1st. 1698 

77 Dr. Felling's Discourse upon Hu- 

mility 1694 

78 Concerning Holliness 1695 

79 Concerning ye Existence of God 1696 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. Ill 

80 Jno. Ketlewells Help and Exliorta- 

tion to Worthy Communicating 1696 

81 His Five Discourses on Practicall 

Religion 1696 

82 His Measures of Christian Obedience 1696 

83 Dr. Hody of ye Resurrection of ye 

Same Body 1694 

84 Grotins de Yeritate Religionis 

Christiana 1675 

85 Mr. John Edwards' Thoughts Con- 

cerning ye Severall Causes and 
Occasions of Atheism 

86 His Socinianism Unmasked 1696 
— His Discourse Concerning ye Au- 
thority, Stile, and perfection of ye 

87 Old & New Testament, in three 

vol: 1696 

(Spelling and Style as in the Original.) 



113 CHUBCH LIFE 



CHAPTER YIII. 

OTHEK ITEMS. 

Tliere are various items that suggest tliem- 
selves at this period of the history which can 
hardly be brought forward as well at any 
later time, some of them of moment as parochial 
matters, and some having a broader interest. 
Amongst them is the care that was bestowed by 
the colonial legislature, through almost the 
whole period of its continuance, to provide for 
the morals of the people and for their right 
religious views. We have noticed the Act of 
1649 ; and though all honor is to be done to 
Maryland for the lead it assumed thereby in the 
great cause of toleration, yet privilege was only 
extended by it under the then generally recog- 
nized standard of orthodoxy, and all those who 
came short of that, those, for instance, that 
denied the Divinity of Our Lord, or the doctrine 
of the Trinity, were denied its benefit. Such 
views now do not debar a man from claims to be 
a religious man or even to be a christian, and 
they who hold such views set themselves up to 
be the liberal men of the day. But in 1649, by 
the instrument then passed, such persons were 
regarded as blasphemers and were amenable to 



. IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 113 

all tlie penalties for that crime. They were 
disloyal to the Almighty and traducers of their 
Lordli and their punishment was greater than if 
they had nsed the foulest language or done the 
most imxUioral deed. And so also at the period 
to which w^e have now come. By a law of 1723 
blas]3hemy is defined, to maliciously and wil- 
fully curse God, ''to deny the Saviour to be the 
Son of God, to deny the Holy Trinity, or the 
Divinity of the several persons of the Trinity;" 
and for this the punishment was, for the first 
offence boring through the tongue, the guilty 
member, and a fine of twenty pounds sterling, or 
imprisonment for six months; for the second 
offence branding in the forehead with the letter B 
and a fine of forty pounds sterling, or imprison- 
ment for twelve months; and for the third offence 
the punishment was death. The thunders of the 
secular power were heavy enough, though it is 
doubtful whether the bolt did any very serious 
execution; rather a hriutum fulmeii, so that men 
might make it as loud as they x^leased. For pro- 
fane SAvearing, also, the fine was heavy, being for 
the first offence two shillings and sixi^ence, and for 
the second, five shillings. Drunkards also were 
fined. By the law of 1692, Sabbath breaking was 
punished by a fine of one hundred pounds of 
tobacco, to go to the poor ; and ordinary keepers 
who on that day might sell liquor, except in 
case of necessity, or who might permit tippling 
on their premises, were liable to pay two hun- 
dred pounds. By the law of 1723 the guilt of 
profane swearing was especially deep if it were 
done in the presence of a vestryman, church war- 
den, or other parties named ; and also the guilt 



114 CHURCH LIFE 

of drunkenness, the punisliment being not only 
a fine, but also, if tlie iDarty were not a "free- 
holder or other reputable i^erson," whipping or 
the discomfort of the stocks. The observance of 
Sunday also was strictly required by this law, 
and work, gaming, hshirig, fowling, hunting and 
other forms of diversion, were strictly forbidden; 
also the sale of ''strong liquors;'' so early have 
we provision for that respect for the Lord' s day 
which has always honored Maryland. Ministers 
were commanded to read this law x^ublicly four 
times a year ; and they, or the magistrates 
refusing to carry out its provisions, were them- 
selves lined. By this law, which was indeed 
excessively severe in some of its clauses, is shown 
the resolution of Maryland to promote the 
elevation of her people ; and it shows also that 
there was among the people a great commanding 
sentiment in behalf of the ordinances and pro- 
prieties of the christian life. The law was passed 
about twenty-eight years after the church as an 
Establishment had been at work ; and witnesses 
to the high standard which by its influence had 
been created among the population. It will be 
remembered also that this was in a time when 
the church had had to endure very much 
opposition. Her influence in spite of the antag- 
onism had evidently been great and blessed. 

A less satisfactory subject of observation is the 
treatment which they received who were thought 
to believe too much, Roman Catholics, whose 
affiliations over and beyond the gospel, were 
supposed to be equally dangerous with blas- 
phemy and to imperil the state. We have seen 
how tliey were brought under the ban when the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 115 

Protestant Revolntion overthrew the old order 
of things. Every other form of positive belief 
could be tolerated except theirs; though for them 
evidently the law of 1649 had been j)assed. 
William III. made the existence of the law of 
1702 to be contingent upon the avowal of the 
principle of toleration; and in 1706, by the colon- 
ial action, the principle was enlarged in its ex- 
pression. For the Roman Catholics, however no 
abundant grace was found, and that for every rea- 
son; because they were dreaded politically, and 
abominated for their false theological views. 
Their theological views also were feared because 
they were supposed to be their political guide, 
and that they could not with them be loyal to the 
state; doubtless a great misconception, but unfor- 
tunately very widely pl-evalent. For in periods 
of great agitation in secular affairs in England 
the Roman Catholics have always been found 
loyal. Patriotism has proven stronger than 
doctrinal views. 

After the Protestant Revolution, a severe lg,w 
was passed in 1704, entitled an act to prevent the 
growth of pojoery within the province. Under 
this act all Bishops or priests of the Roman 
Catholic Church were inhibited, by severe penal- 
ties, from saying mass or exercising the spirtual 
functions of their office, or endeavoring in any 
manner to persuade the inhabitants to become 
reconciled to the Church of Rome. Also mem- 
bers of that church were prohibited from engaging 
in the instruction of youths. Relief, however, 
in some measure followed immediately from the 
stringency of these provisions; for at the same 
session of the Assembly liberty was granted the 



116 CHURCH LIFE 

priests of exercising spiritual functions in pri- 
vate families of the Roman Church; a relief that 
was continued from that time onward. A severe 
enactment also was i^assed in 1715, by which if a 
protestant father should die, leaving children, 
and his widow should be a Roman Catholic, or 
marry a Roman Catholic, it was possible for the 
Grovernor and council, upon application, to 
remove such children from the custody of their 
mother ''to save them from popery." They were 
also to be educated out of their father' s estate. 
In 1729 the county court had this jurisdiction. 
Evidently the thought was that the mother had 
no inherent rights in her children; and also that 
after the father the children pre-eminently be- 
longed to the state, and that the state was the 
guardian of the children for their highest welfare 
after the father. The dread and hatred of popery 
as pestilential to the commonwealth and deadly to 
the soul, could hardly be more strongly expressed. 
The spirit of persecution had certainly tlien not 
died out. There are various social propositions 
which we regard as obsolete, contained in that 
act, which after a hundred and fifty years, till us 
with amazement. It was passed, however, at a 
time when the name of Roman Catholic was, 
however unworthily, associated with the thought 
of rebellion. 

Later on, in 1716, after the attemi3t of 
the Pretender upon the throne of England, test 
oaths that had been required of all persons 
holding office in the colony, were re-enacted, and 
amongst them the declaration in respect of 
transubstantiation. This of course prevented the 
Roman Catholic from holding office, and the 



IN COLONIAL MABTLAND. 117 

exclusion from public life was rendered the more 
complete by a law of 1718 by which such test 
oaths and declaration could, upon a person being 
suspected of being a Roman Catholic, be admin- 
istered as a qualification for voting. This finished 
their disfranchisement, a burden under which 
they rested down to the close of the colonial 
period. Dread and jealousy were always felt 
towards them, which in many ways made their 
position painful. Yet it did not apparently affect 
their numbers, the ratio of which to the whole 
population, remaining about the same. Nor did 
their priests cease to be active or to make con- 
verts, one of the charges, re]3eatedly made, being 
that irregularity of life in the parsons favored 
priests, proselyting zeal. Also the clergy, in 
addressing Gov. Hart in 1714, desired the 
repression of the Papists and other dissenters, 
who were accused of abusing their liberty under 
the law ; an appeal that doubtless found willing 
ears. For in addition to the other means used 
for this purpose which we have seen, as early as 
1708 there was a tax imposed of twenty shillings 
per poll upon all Irish servants of that faith 
brought in, "to prevent the growth of Papacy;" 
a law that was subsequently re-enacted several 
times. Other articles taxed in the same ordinance 
were negro slaves and rum. 

Another act of discrimination and equally rep- 
rehensible according to our notions, was the at- 
tempt, though it failed, to lay a double burden 
on Roman Catholics to meet the expenses of the 
French war , a measure that, though it had a 
general bearing, was thought rather to be aimed 
at certain particular individuals. Nor did it fail 



118 CHURCH LIFE 

because tliere was seen to be any special injustice 
in it, but because the whole project, of which it 
was a part, failed ; the occasion being one of the 
earlier and more vigorous struggles of the people 
against prerogative. 

There was indeed a consistent plan pursued of 
expressing abhorrence of the Roman Catholic 
Church through the colonial period from the 
days when the Roman Catholic Lord Baltimore, 
was deprived, a plan that had its origin and ex- 
pression in the abhorrence that was conscien- 
tiously felt. And unfortunately for the members 
of that church, both in England and in the colo- 
nies the fires of religious antagonism, were kept 
burning by almost every leading consideration of 
the time. The reigning family of England was 
of the Protestant Succession, while the Pretender 
was of the Roman church. England was strongly 
protestant, while France, of which there was con- 
tinual jealousy and which was supporting the 
Pretender, was Roman Catholic, Besides, though 
the Roman pontiff is now, and has for many 
years been recognized as having but. small politi- 
cal influence, particularly in those states with 
which England is brought into close contact, in 
the last century his power was supposed to be 
great, and doubtless was so. England, though 
she felt her way carefully towards Roman 
Catholic emancipation for many years, was not 
able to pass the Relief Bill till 1829, when disa- 
bilities, in the presence of which all those in 
the colony were almost as nothing, were finally 
in great part removed. Intolerance born of fear, 
died very hard. While the Pope of Rome along 
with his inordinate claims to depose princes, 



IjY colonial 3fARYLAND. 119 

and condemn them to death, to exercise temporal 
jurisdiction in the various states and kingxloms, 
to appoint heretics to death, and to bind the 
consciences of his followers to carry out his 
decrees, was supposed to have power to make 
these claims effective, there is no wonder that 
his name was dreaded, and that all that conld 
become his instruments, were looked upon with 
suspicion. Self preservation itself demanded 
restrictive measures. It was the misfortune of 
the times ; and while individuals were to be 
pitied, the church itself was the chief cause of 
their annoyances and discomforts. It ill becomes 
us now to avow a mock sentiment in regard to 
the matter, as even some Protestant writers are 
disposed to do, clerical as well as lay ; thinking 
that it belongs to their modern liberality. Judge 
men of the olden times by the force of the circum- 
stances of those olden times. The lawyers, 
merchants, and planters of a hundred and fifty 
years ago, had been moulded by a great combi- 
nation of facts; and their jealousies and anxieties, 
whicli we are glad to have outgrown, were then 
but natural. 

If our Maryland ancestors had a good deal of 
puritanical zeal, as exibited in their care for the 
Lord' s day and their antagonism against unbelief 
or misbelief, as well as their regard for the 
proprieties of life in the matter of drinking, 
swearing and licentiousness, for all which they 
attempted to i^rovide by their laws ; they ex- 
hibited a good deal of fortitude also, and braved 
circumstances in coming to the house of God 
that would apxDal their successors of this day. 
A celebrated author has recently said that the 



120 CHURCH LIFE 

art of keeping warm is of modern invention, a 
fact wliicli will require no argument to demon- 
strate. And eminently was the absence of this 
art seen in the house of God. For down till 
about two generations ago the churches of Mary- 
land had no tires in them, nor any means 
provided for making a tire. So that the worship- 
ers of that day had to sit through the long 
service and sermon, (and without the responses 
by the peoi3le and the singing of the anthems, 
it must have seemed very long), and shiver. 
Their rides were often many weary miles, and 
the roads unspeakably bad, but yet they were 
found at their place. There was fire in the 
vestry house, which was a detached building, 
and doubtless there was in the capacious fireplace 
there a roaring flame from the logs of the abundant 
forrest. But at church time they rigidly with- 
drew to the sanctuary, turning the key in the 
door to prevent all access to the cheerful blaze, 
and ordering the sexton to permit no one to 
enter. There is only one explanation to give of 
their ability and willingness to endure this, that 
they were not much accustomed to warmth at 
home ; for with their small houses, such as were 
almost universal in the earlier days, the door was 
almost always open in the sitting room, and 
heat was secured not by shutting out the blast 
but by piling on more fuel. They roughed it, as 
the saying is, and those that were strong enough 
to stand the roughing, were able to sit in church 
or anywhere else and not perish. Our standard of 
comfort is of very modern creation, and even we 
look back with some wonder how our fathers of 
a generation ago were able to endure their 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 131 

discomforts patiently. For Maryland habits 
have been very odd, as witness the experience of 
the owner of a large plantation whose kitchen 
was on the opposite side of the public road from 
the house. One afternoon in summer, we are 
told, her friends gathered together to partake of 
her hospitality, but as evening drew near a most 
violent thunder storm came on, with a drenching 
rain ; and as the tinder box, and lire, and supper 
were all across the way hostess and guests had to 
sit in quietness and hunger and darkness far 
into the night, till the storm had passed away. 
They were a sturdy set though, nevertheless, and 
their comforts, such as they were, were like their 
principles, more liberal than those they left 
behind them in the mother country. 

The item of stocks is frequently mentioned in 
the vestry records of those times, not bank or 
railroad, tholigh the vestry often had funds to 
invest, but that peculiar institution contrived to 
make poor delinquents very uncomfortable. 
Once also the whipping post is mentioned, an 
order being passed that one should be set up. 
This was in 1747. But from the beginning the 
, stocks are frequently mentioned. The vestry 
also i^aid for the same out of the parish funds, 
an account being rendered the vestry in the year 
1708. They were probably erected as a neigh- 
borhood convenience for miscreants in general ; 
they were also, however, regarded as valuable 
for church discipline ; for in 1765 the rule was 
made by the vestry that persons intruding into 
pews belonging to others and refusing to with- 
draw, should be put in the stocks, and a pair 
was ordered to be set up near the church. It 



122 CHURCH LIFE 

would appear from this that the vestries had 
more than the power of preserving order about 
the church ; for to do that an offender need only 
be held for trial. They did execute the decrees 
of the county court in cases of immorality, and 
also they had the power of action in other cases, 
as admonishing those living in guilt, which 
implied that they had the power of summoning 
witnesses and requiring the presence of the 
accused. This case would seem to indicate that 
they exercised some of the old manorial right of 
holding a petty court. The parish was for 
certain purposes to them as a manor, and in 
offences against good morals and the violation of 
peace during the time of worship and the infringe- 
ment of private rights within the precincts of the 
house of God, they had power. The ducking 
stool, the pillory and branding irons were also 
institutions of Maryland, but not in the hands of 
the vestry. 

Why a halo should be supposed to surround 
a church because it was built of English brick, it 
would be difficult to say. Such, however, is the 
fact ; for there is hardly an old church in Mary- 
land built during the colonial period that is not 
said to have been so erected. Yet the assertion 
is true of very few. Most of the brick churches 
in Maryland were built just before the revolution 
when there was an abundance of skill in Mary- 
land ; while the clay in very many parts of the 
state is of excellent quality. "^Also, though 
English goods were high, yet labor in Maryland 
was low. Why, therefore, people should have 
gone to England to buy what they could get as 
good and cheaper at home, is a difficult question. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 123 

Nor does the size of the bricks indicate anything, 
for the mechanic, having learned his trade in 
England, would of necessity almost, use the 
same mould he had been accustomed to, and also 
the same process of manufacture. Also, even 
though granting the charges of freight were 
nothing, which is doubtful, yet the cost of 
handling and carrying, ]3erhaps for miles, would 
be excessive over and above that of bricks made 
where they were needed. The tradition, there- 
fore, is probably hardly ever reliable. As early 
as 1717 we find the vestry of St. James' parish 
ordering, and in 1718 paying for twenty thousand 
bricks made upon the glebe ; and the high 
probability is that as this church stood as near to a 
port as most of the parish churches, when the 
time came to erect its substantial walls, the 
contractor went to the same pit for his clay and 
from that built this memorial of the Maryland 
churchman's confidence. 

Our forefathers in the church did not hold the 
use of liquor in abomination as some of their 
descendants of this time are disposed to do. It 
is true that St. James' parish was the field on 
which the first local option law operated, bat it 
was not for Maryland churchmen. The Quakers 
who abounded among them, were grievously af- 
flicted at their meetings by the resort of "evil 
and wicked ' ' persons thither to sell strong drink ; 
and as early as 1 702 they appointed a committee 
to wait on the Governor and Council to seek an 
abatement of the nuisance. This was promised 
them, but again in 1711 they made the same com- 
plaint, and in 1725 an act was passed by the 
Assembly to prevent the sale of liquor within 



124 CEUBCH LIFE 

two miles of the meeting house at West River. 
It is not on record how far the Friends were 
total abstainers themselves, and so differed from 
their fellow citizens. The churchmen, however, 
of that day have left no record of their abomi- 
nation, in any way, of ardent spirits, but rather we 
find under the date of 1703 an order passed by 
the vestry for two gallons of rum for the use of 
the men engaged in underpinning the church, 
a large amount of rum certainly for a small 
amount of work. The raising and underpinning 
implied a large gathering, and the rum was to 
promote jollity as well as activity ; and, of 
course, on such an occasion all the vestry were 
present. This explains the generous supply. It 
is not on record, however, that the vestry of St. 
James' had a standing order for the sexton to 
provide ' ' a quart of rum and sugar equivalent, 
and as much diet as would give the vestry a 
dinner," though such was the rule of a parish in 
Baltimore county until a loud protest was made. 
Then their rum and diet had to be provided at 
their private charges. We are not informed 
whether their zeal flagged on that account ; 
though it is likely that previously their meetings 
had been exceedingly well attended, and that 
without fear of the impending fine, which in 
other places was thought to be sufficient but nec- 
essary. 

A review of the parish from this point suggests 
satisfactory consideration. The church was well 
filled with a constantly increasing congregation, 
occasioned partly by an increasing population, 
though also by an increasing interest in holy 
things in the people. The population did 



IN COLONIAL MABTLAND. 135 

increase very much, as in 1696 the number of 
taxables was five hundred and seven, and 
in 1725 eight hundred and seven, three hun- 
dred in about thirty years. This of course in- 
cludes the servants who were taxables, and proba- 
bly only a small ratio was of new families come 
in. There was probably not a great increase from 
that source, as it was a new country but recently 
taken up, and the planters would hardly be dis- 
posed to divide or part with their land ; while 
also new settlers had plenty of new country to go 
out to, where the cost would be much less. In- 
crease in population, therefore, meant rather in- 
crease in prosperity among the planters, that is, 
the increase of servants. The parish also was at 
peace, and the rector and people harmonious. 
There is no evidence that the then rector's diffi- 
culties with the commissary w^ere even known to 
the people. The income of the rector also was 
ample ; for beside the jDroceeds of the tax which 
came almost entirely to him, and which would have 
yielded at least six hundred dollars of our money, 
on an average of seven hundred polls, he had the 
income from the two glebes. Other perquisites 
also fell to his portion, among them, it would 
seem, the mulatto children that were born of free 
women. For these were claimed by the clergy, 
and in one instance seemingly the claim was 
allowed in Mr. Hall's favor. He was apparently 
also a gentleman of considerable private means, 
from the lands that belonged to him ; for it was 
not only the disappointed or the penniless that 
came to Maryland ; but while the love of adven- 
ture brought some, others doubtless were 
swayed by the highest Christian motives. 



136 CHURCH LIFE 

All the officers of tlie parish, too, took an 
interest in their duties, and apparently attended 
to them faithfully. About 1720 a pressure was 
put upon them and delinquents were fined for 
absence, as much as one hundeed pounds of 
tobacco, worth from two to three dollars. In one 
instance the rector himself was fined, for there 
was no respect of persons, and he was "principal 
vestryman." The churches generally would 
X)resent rather an odd appearance to our eyes, 
with the various distinctions that were made in 
their sittings. For beside the rector's pew there 
were the warden' s and the vestrymen' s pews, to 
which only they, or strangers by invitation, 
could go, and there was the private gallery 
erected by private families at their own expense. 
There were also the men's j)ews and the women's 
pews, evidently the free seats, and beside this, 
in some churches there were appointed places for 
slaves. Some of the churches had bells which 
continued to be used down to the Revolution, 
when some of them disappeared ; tradition says, 
broken up to be moulded into cannon to utter the 
voice of destruction, in place of their former 
invitation to praise and prayer. The surplice 
with the stole is the only vestment mentioned 
throughout the colonial period. 

How far the church had wrought a good 
influence in the community, it is diffiuclt to say. 
It is observable that certain crimes indicating a 
low degree of morally, or rather a very degraded 
class in the parish, had in a large measure 
apparently ceased. Possibly, of course, the 
vestry had become lax in the execution of the 
law, though this is hardly possible. A high 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 127 

state of morality had probably grown up, and 
the degraded classes had in a measure become 
reformed. In 1733, however, we find the reap- 
pearance of the same enormities. A law passed 
in 1715 and re-enacted in 1717 and 1728 would 
show that in various parts of the colony there 
was a very abandoned set, the creation and result 
doubtless in a large measure of that body of 
convicts that were emptied out uj)on these shores 
year by year by the "mother" country. 

The church, however, was not the only good 
influence at work. The Quakers, we have seen, 
were very strong in this part of Maryland, and 
especially in St. James' parish, and their first 
yearly meeting in America was here. Also their 
greatest strength lay at points remote from the 
parish church where the influence of the 
rector and the church administration would, 
from their central location be less felt, that is, 
along the shore of the bay from North to South. 
The Friends had a meeting house in each direc- 
tion, and doubtless did much to improve the 
morals and elevate the religious tone of the 
community. For the Quaker of that day, with 
his decided and clear doctrines, was a much 
more influential factor than his brother of to-day, 
who, as a follower of Elias Hicks, has so little 
that is positive to guide him. There were also 
some Roman Catholic priests, who were allowed 
full influence u]3on the plantations of those of 
their own name, and doubtless they helped to 
ameliorate the condition of the community. 
They had sufficient liberty to excite the anxiety 
of the rectors of x)arishes, and if the later fathers 
were as devoted as the ealier missionaries thev 



128 CHURCH LIFE 

were in many ways a blessing. Of otlier forms 
of churcli ministration apparently there was 
none. 

How far St. James' parish was a fair index to 
the general condition of the colony it is difficult 
to say. There apx3ears scarcely any general 
reason why it should not be so accepted; and if 
it was, notwithstanding all that has been said to 
the contrary, Maryland can only be regarded as 
having been particularly fortunate. Church 
ministration was secured to her; and all other 
Christian bodies, though the Roman Catholic 
only in a limited degree, were allowed liberty. 
By the first a great and immovable barrier was 
fixed to the flood of grossness and licentiousness 
that had before flooded the colony, and by it, 
assisted by the other christian bodies, that flood 
was forced ever within narrower limits, and 
society delivered from its desolation. Of that 
other and far higher benefit, wrought in the 
heavenly ministration, by which individual souls 
were fed with the Bread of Life, it is impossible 
to sj^eak. The Establishment secured for the 
colony what it never had before, and what other- 
wise it would not have had, the regular, faithful 
and consistent service of God's ordained minis- 
try; and thus only was it or could it have been 
delivered from spiritual ruin. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 129 



CHAPTER IX, 

THE SECOND EECTOESHIP. 
THE CHURCH I:N^ ENGLAND. 

With the period commencing with the year 
1722 to which we have now come, there are associ- 
ated many particulars interesting, not because they 
are pleasing to contemplate, but because they 
present certain aspects of church life greatly in 
contrast with our own. The church in England 
was at this time passing through great trials; for 
after the death of Queen Anne in 1714, who was 
devoted to the church, and under whom church- 
men were favored, whose reputation also in 
America was fostered by various gifts to the 
parishes, there arose by patronage of the first of 
the Georges, an entirely new class of men, pro- 
fessing latitudinarian views of an extreme type, 
and as much as possible depreciating church 
authority. How far this was the outgrowth or 
reaction from the Jacobite tendencies of the High 
Church party, cannot be said; but certain it is, the 
state favored the new school, recognizing its 
members as safer instruments for its purposes; 
and they obtained a large part of its patronage, 
being given the most eminent positions in the 
gift of the government. 



130 CHURCH LIFE 

In harmony with this was the principle on which 
the government was administered by Sir Robert 
Walpole. His determination was to preserve 
everything in quietness, regarding tlie internal 
prosperity of the state as being the highest 
consideration for an officer of the government. 
Acting on this principle he refined down differ- 
ences, he avoided in legislation every thing that 
might irritate one or the other of the great 
classes into which society was divided, the 
church and non-conformists. Where he could 
not directly do away with the obstacles to peace, 
he temporized, as in some of the older repressive 
laws enacted after the Restoration; and either 
violations of the laws were overlooked, or else 
their operation was suspended for a season. 
This policy had begun before Walpole became 
Prime Minister, but after he had become influ- 
ential in the government on the accession of 
George I.; and it continued to be the policy 
throughout his long administration, and after- 
wards. 

Among other things done during this time was 
the suspension of convocation in 1717, chiefly 
because it had dared to raise its voice against the 
growth of extreme latitudinarian views as set 
forth by the Bishop Hoadly of Bangor. Convo- 
cation had been the church' s appointed and legal 
means of expressing its views and desires upon 
matters of its own concern, and was the great 
preservative agent of the church against,, laxity of 
views and practice. The Bishop of Bangor's 
views were offensive in the extreme, contending 
as he did, "against the notion of the existence of 
any visible church, and scoffing at the mainte- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 131 

nance of tests of orthodoxy and tlie claims of 
ecclesiastical government." Convocation pro- 
tested against sncli views, with the result that it 
was prorogued, either because the government 
did not want agitation in the kingdom, or 
because the whole school to which Bishop 
Hoadly belonged, were regarded as being more 
favorable to whig principles. 

This policy had a very pernicious influence uj^on 
the condition of the church. Discipline ceased, 
and laxity both in doctrine and practice became 
common. We have often heard of the fox hunt- 
ing parsons of the eighteenth century, but fox 
hunting was not the only thing in which remiss- 
ness was shown. The whole tone of the clergy 
sank. There was nothing to regulate or deflne 
doctrine or practice. Men were exalted to station, 
not because they were fitted for it either by learn- 
ing or devotion, but because they were in harmony 
with the prevailing principles of the government, 
and might be useful to the party in power. One 
result of this condition of things, was the great 
agitation upon the doctrine of the Trinity, in 
which Dr. Waterland bore such a leading part, 
and at this time an attempt was made even so to 
alter the Prayer Book as to make it harmonize 
with Arian tenets. Deism also had its strong 
advocates, and the religion of nature was set up 
as the antagonist sufficient to displace Chris- 
tianity. It was this controversy that called out in 
defence of the truth Bishop Warburton in his 
Divine Legation of Moses, and Bishop Butler in 
his Analogy. It was a time of extreme agitation, 
everything Christian being impugned, frequent- 
ly by those who held the honors and emoluments 
of the church. 



132 CHUBCH LIFE 

And practice tallied with laxity in principle. 
Residence by tlie Bisliops in tlieir dioceses, in 
some instances wlien we would least expect it, 
was felt to be a burden, and was avoided as niucli 
as possible. Tlie clinrcli was not felt to be a 
living body. Trntli was more a matter of pliil- 
osopliy tlian a guide of life; while practical 
precepts were rather moral ajDothegms than the 
voice of the Master and Savior calling. This is 
the way, walk ye in it. So far had the church 
lost her vitality that when Seeker, who became 
Archbishop in 1758, attempted to send over 
bishops to the American colonies, he found him- 
self antagonized by the church to that degree 
that he had to abandon his intention. The 
church had become only the creature of the 
state for certain functions, the contests of 
her members were often only the battles of 
philosophers for certain ideas; spiritually she 
was cold. 

One result of this was inevitable. The tone of 
the clergy and people fell. We hear a good 
deal about the condition of the clergy in the 
colonies, and many were painfully derelict, 
though there has been a very great deal of 
exaggeration. It was not America, however, 
that was alone so afflicted. For we find in a 
description of the clergy of England at this time, 
that they figured as "courtiers, politicians, 
lawyers, merchants, usurers, civil magistrates, 
sportsmen, musicians, stewards of county squires 
and tools of men in x)ower." They were com- 
pletely secularized, lived as men of the world, 
with all the deadening influence of such con- 
nection. Tlieir separation was a lost fact ; and 



IW COLONIAL MARYLAND. 133 

with the loss there was the depreciation of 
character. The social position of the clergy was^ 
then very different from what it is now, and 
with the difference there was less to restrain 
them. A clergyman now has many more safe- 
guards thrown around him ; for as a class, from 
the highest to the lowest, his calling makes him 
the equal of any other class, and gives him a 
defined position, which it is easy for him to keep 
if he will, and which he sacrifices at his peril. 
All men honor his calling, all men take it for 
granted that he honors it, as the vast majority of 
his brethren do, and so none look down upon 
him or despise him. And all this is a great 
moral influence about him, irrespective of other 
considerations, to support him in his i^osition. 

Just the opiDOsite was the case in that day and 
before. For according to a picture drawn by 
Dean Swift, in the days of Queen Anne, "the 
recognized social position of a clergyman and 
his family was about that of a tradesman. He 
made no attempt to keei3 up the status of a 
gentleman. ' The vicar' says he, ' will probably 
receive presents now and then from his parish- 
ioners, and perhaps from his squire, who although 
he may be apt sometimes to treat his parson a 
little superciliously, may probably be softened by 
a little humble demeanor. The vicar is likewise 
generally sure to find, on his admittance to the 
living, a convenient house and barn in rex)air, 
with a garden and a field or two to graze a few 
cows and one horse for himself and his wife. 
He has a market probably very near him, per- 
haps in his own village. No entertainment is 
expected by his visitor beyond a pot of ale and a 



134 CHURCH LIFE 

piece of cheese. His wife is little better than 
goody in her birth, education or dress, and as to 
himself, he must let his parentage alone. If he 
be the son of a farmer it is very sufficient, and 
his sister may decently be chambermaid to the 
squire's wife. He goes about on working days in 
a grazier' s coat and will not scruple to assist his 
workmen in harvest times. His daughters shall 
go to service, or be sent apprentice to the semp 
stress in the next town, and his sons are put to 
honest trades." 

Nor is this picture of clerical life isolated, 
the representation of one sour- tempered man. 
There is abundance of proof that the better 
social standing of the parochial clergy is of later 
times. One of the laws of Queen Elizabeth's 
time prescribes rules for the clergy in marrying, 
one of which was "that no x^riest or deacon should 
marry without the api^robation first obtained of 
the Bishop and two justices of the peace for the 
county, nor without the consent of the parents or 
relatives of the woman, or of the master or mis- 
tress with whom she was at service, in case she 
had no rehatives." Also, we have some pictures 
of clerical life in the last century subsequent to 
this date, one of which, recently published and 
exceedingly beautiful, is supposed to have sug- 
gested to Goldsmith, in some of its features, the 
Vicar of Wakefield. At that time the condition 
of the parochial clergy in England, whatever it 
may be now, was humble. By his office the 
curate could claim nothing, though a godly life 
has always been a power. 

In America, doubtless, the relative position of 
the clergy in society was higher. This would 



ZzY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 135 

necessarily result from the much simpler ways of 
living in the colonies, and from the fact that the 
pox)ulation was composed in such large propor- 
tion of those w^ho came to this country w^ith but 
little, and whose fortunes w^ere made by them- 
selves; though it is true that many of the higher 
orders of society did emigrate from England, and 
make their homes here. Still, there w^as alw^ays a 
far nearer approach to equality. In the northern 
colonies, w^here there w^as an ambition for as near 
an ax)proach to a theocracy as possible, of course 
the ministers were awarded all honor and esteem; 
but in the southern colonies there may have 
been present some of that English feeling to 
account for the harsh language and the want of 
consideration that at times manifested themselves 
and strongly in the period to which we have now 
come. Individual men may have been highly 
respected, as certainly they were; but when from 
any cause they combined and stood forth as a 
body, to proclaim any principle or to maintain 
any right, there w^as nothing in the general 
esteem for their office or position to compel men 
to treat them with consideration; and further, 
the faults and shortcomings of a few w^ould, in 
the pox)ular imagination and language, be charged 
against the whole body as a class. 

All these causes, however, united, the low^ 
esteem, socially, in which the clergy w^ere held, 
their being mixed up in the ]Dolitical agitations 
of the day, w^hen every man was distinguished 
as a Tory and Jacobite, or a Whig and friend of 
the Hanoverian succession, the taking aw^ay from 
the church the ]30wer of regulating her own in- 
ternal affairs w^hen the mouth of Convocation was 



136 CHURCH LIFE 

closed and all power of discipline suspended; 
fearfully depressed the Churcli both at home and 
in the colonies, paralyzed her efforts, depreciated 
her standard, lowered her in the regard of the 
world, caused the truth, which she held in trust, 
to be questioned and rejected, and made iniquity 
to abound. And in proportion as these causes 
operated in England they affected Am.erica. 

But while the Church in the Mother Country 
could not at this time raise her head proudly be- 
fore the world by reason of the lethargy of her 
children, and because of the want of harmony 
in regard even to the most important matters of 
the faith, her condition was not without its hope- 
ful and its redeeming features. For if some of 
her children questioned the living truths and de- 
nied the great Christian principles, there were 
many through this century whose writings and 
whose lives x)resented in the strongest light the 
natural hold the Church has upon all the living 
principles of truth and godliness. Some of these 
great men have been mentioned, as Waterland, 
Butler, and Warburton, men of commanding 
force and discrimination; while there also flor- 
ished Jones of Nayland, Samuel Wesley, the 
father of John and Charles, William Law, and 
Bishop Wilson, men who combined with learn- 
ing a piety and devotion that have given them 
an undying name. At this time also there were 
various religious societies connected with the 
church in different parts of England, which by 
their association kept alive a religious spirit and 
proved instruments for kindling the piety of 
such men as the Wesley s and Whitfield. Also 
in 1729 the Society of Methodists was lirst 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 137 

formed at Oxford, composed of members of tlie 
Cliurch of England. Among the original mem- 
bers were other men as prominent as the Wesley s; 
for the society had as its ori'ginal intention to 
promote the piety of the members themselves. 
For this purpose they assembled every night to 
review their individual lives of the past| day and 
to build themselves and each other up in truth 
and godliness, by the study of the scriptures and 
prayer. Further than this, their work was to 
instruct, as they had opportunity, their associates 
in the University, and to teach in the schools, 
work houses, and prisons, wherever indeed they 
might find an opening. 

Thus began the movement that has accom- 
plished such vast results, not only in England 
but throughout the world, the work of men who 
were rigid in the observance of all rules and 
ordinances of the Church of England, and whose 
piety not only burned, but was kindled at her 
altars. So that though the condition of the 
Church in England was bad at the time we are 
in, yet her future and glorious resusciation was 
already preparing, the ashes of the plienix were 
already s tiring with life. For it was out of 
this Methodist movement, though in its later 
stages, but before separation took place from the 
English Church, that the evangelical school 
sprang, with the great names of Cecil, Conyers, 
Venn, Milner, and Simeon at its head; which 
did more than any other body of men or any 
other school of teaching, to work the great 
revival, in the calm steady heat of which the 
whole Anglican communion flourishes to-day. 
Other influences have since manifested them- 



138 CHURCH LIFE 

selves, but that both anticiiDated their day, had 
its own peculiar work for the promotion of piety 
and good works, and prepared the way for the 
entrance of these other agencies. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 139 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHUKCH T^ AMERICA. 

A general review of ecclesiastical affairs in 
America wonlcl reveal, that with the growth of 
years there had been a general enlarging of the 
spirit of liberty. The question, What had 
brought it about? might be answered differ- 
ently according as men looked with the spirit of 
calm investigation u^Don the matter, seeking only 
the truth, or as they were filled with admiration 
for the people of any given section of the 
country. The readiest reason, however, reached 
for the great change in public sentiment would 
l^robably be, that religion had not so strong a 
hold on men's minds and hearts, that in the one 
hundred years that had elapsed since the estab- 
lishment of the earlier colonies, when men 
sought a refuge from religious intolerance, where 
they might themselves show equal if not greater 
intolerance, the ardor of their own minds had 
sensibly cooled down, the distinct lines of an 
ecclesiastical re]3ublic had been made less dis- 
tinct by a freer spirit of civilization, by the 
influence of trade, education, and the apprehen- 
sion of civil rights. IN'ew England outgrew a 
commonwealth founded on Mosaic law. as Israel 



140 CHURCH LIFE 

had done so long before. This larger spirit of 
administration, was strikingly exemplified in| 
the treatment of the Quakers. For during the 
rule of Governor Belcher, which began in 1729, 
Massachusetts passed a law ' 'making satisfaction 
to the posterity of those who endured capital 
punishment in the years 1658 and 1659; and the 
same Assembly decreed a compensation to the 
decendants of the unfortunate victims of the pro- 
secutions for witchcraft in 1693." Also, "the 
Legislature of Connecticut in 1729 passed an act 
for exempting Quakers and Baptists from eccle 
siastical taxes, and in 1731 a similar law was 
enacted by the Assembly of Massachusetts," in 
which they were eminently ahead of Maryland 
and Virginia. 

What had helped, however, to bring about 
this change was the difference in the sj)irit of 
the home government towards the colonies, and 
particularly towards those of New England. 
For while in their earlier days the troubles in 
England secured to them very great licence, and 
they were able to conduct their affairs after their 
own wills; and then had every encouragement to 
do so by the success which attended their friends 
in the Rebellion, being fortified in every claim 
and pretension by the supremacy to which Inde- 
pendency had attained; after the Restoration, 
and the complete overthrow of the ecclesiastical 
system of the commonwealth, royal injunctions 
and commands were heard which had to be 
obeyed, and toleration of almost all classes came 
to be the rule. The hated prelacy, against which 
New England puritanism had protested as 
against sin, raised its temples in the strongholds 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 141 

tof the faith; and the Prayer Book, with all its 
papistical ceremonies, guided and directed the 
worshi]3 of many of the most esteemed citizens. 
,rhe dawn of the eighteenth century was the 
[Oreaking forth of the brightest spirit of civil and 
[religious liberty that ever glorified the world, 
c:hough that sj)irit shone in its brightness over a 
4:erritory that extended but little beyond the 
realms of the happier empire of Protestant 
England. 

tj It was before our present date that the exami- 
aation began at Yale College into the grounds 
land claims of Episcopacy, that resulted in the 
jponviction in the minds of its rector and one of 
jits tutors, and also of Dr. Sam. Johnson, a con- 
gregational minister and friend of the rector, 
phat ExDiscopacy was the true scriptural form of 
church government, and that no orders were 
'ralid that were not episcox)ally conferred. The 
i^esult of this conviction was, that they all re- 
'4gned their positions, and going to England 
were received into the ministry of the church. 
Two of them afterward returned to America, 
ileath intervening to prevent the third, and they 
ministered as missionaries of the Society for 
t^ropaga^ting the Gospel, occupying for many 
years positions of commanding influence, and 
bompelling the hearing of the church's claims. 
\ This society was at that time the chief hope of 
jfche church in all parts of America, Maryland 
land Virginia excepted. It was the missionary 
organization of that day, as it still is in very 
(large measure in the Church of England, though 
^ts labors are now supplemented by the Church 
[Missionary Society, the child of the Evangelical 



142 CHURCH LIFE 

movement at the close of tlie eigliteentli century. 
Its revenue was the free will offerings of the 
people, and though it was not great, as we count 
greatness now, yet its existence was a proof of a 
worthy remnant in the midst of worldliness, that 
had not bowed the knee to Baal. Maryland and 
Virginia were excepted from its operations, 
because by the law in these colonies ample 
provision was supx)osed to be made for the 
support of the clergy. There were compensations, 
however, in favor of the other colonies; for the 
Society could exercise a scrutiny and'supervision 
over those whom it acpected and sent out; which 
was the means of presenting the church in its 
truest and most acceptable form in those places 
where clerical shortcomings of any kind would 
have intensified the already active suspicion and 
dislike of the people. And so as a fact, though 
the church was dreaded, and was to the last 
regarded as the symbol and engine of ecclesias- 
tical tyranny, and her ministers in times of 
strong agitation, were placed under the social 
ban ; yet there was an ever -increasing strength 
granted her by the gradual appreciation of her 
true principles. Nothing but a worthy body of 
high-toned Christian ministers could have secured 
this blessing. 

In Maryland at this time, from 1722 to 1734, 
the condition of things was not pleasing. For 
the church was not in peace, and the occasions 
of disturbance were various. As to the outside 
bodies, her relations with them had in no way 
changed, and there was as much liberality to- 
wards all exercised in Maryland as any where 
else probably in the world. The Roman Catholic 



m COLONIAL MARYLAND, 143 

continued, of course, to stand in tlie same relations 
to society and the state in which he had always 
stood; while probably after 1715, when the family 
of the Lord Prox)rietary became protestant, and 
jurisdiction was restored to it, the strain was less 
than it had been before. The spirit of the 
English government towards Roman Catholics, 
was well exemplehed in its treatment of Lord Balti- 
more at the Revolution of 1688; for while with- 
drawing jurisdiction, which was felt to be unsafe 
in his hands, it secured to him all his rights of 
property in the colony, and when the family 
changed its faith, jurisdiction was restored. Its 
deprival of civil rights, however, did not aifect, 
apparently, the numerical condition of that 
church, for it was able to preserve a constant 
ratio to the population down to the close of the 
colonial days, being about one-tw^elfth. Of 
course this was only kept up by a large immigra- 
tion. The number of Jesuit missionaries, how- 
ever, now in the colony, and they furnished the 
chief supply for the adherents of the Koman 
faith, was as large as it was at any subsequent 
time, as their official records show. For in the 
year 1723 there were at the Residence of St. 
Ignatius sixteen members of the society, twelve 
fathers and four coadjutors. The duty of the 
coadjutors, who were lay brothers, was to attend 
to the domestic aifairs of the Residence, and to 
cultivate the land attached to it, the income from 
which supported the mission; while the fathers 
went hither and thither throughout the colony in 
the performance of their spiritual duties. This 
had been their rule from the foundation of the 
colony, and to obtain a certain and secured support 



144 CHURCH LIFE 

had been the object of their large acquisition of 
land which early brought them into conflict with 
their patron. For there was no appointed 
income except this, other than the free-will 
offerings of the people; a fact that doubtless in 
certain localities gave them a great advantage at 
times when the matter of expense was a great sub- 
ject of agitation. Not that it may have caused any 
persons to go over to the Jesuits, but it 
increased their opportunity to question and 
fault the ministers of the Established church, 
as now we find them doing. For in addition to 
other trials, the clergy were compelled to enter 
into public controversy in answer to the Roman- 
ist' s bold challenge; to vindicate the truth of the 
Protestant faith against Romish perversion, as 
they had to vindicate the Establishment and 
their rights under it against the attacks of those, 
sometimes of their own household, who bore the 
Protestant name. 

As regards the other great body of dissenters 
that had formerly given trouble, the Quakers, 
they by this time had ceased to excite much 
attention. They had come to be better under- 
stood everywhere, and the immunity they had 
almost always enjoyed in Maryland became more 
perfect. They had never been feared, but only 
regarded as extravagant enthusiasts, who, for 
certain matters of form, were ready to endure all 
things, and who despised the powers that be in so 
far as they interfered with their views and 
practises. But in Maryland things had been 
adjusted to suit their private notions of what was 
right ; and as their lives as a body were peaceable 
and upright, and they were industrious, faithful, 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 145 

God-fearing citizens, all possible liberty was 
willingly extended. And no anxiety seems to 
liave been felt by the ecclesiastical authorities 
about their proselyting, as was felt about the 
Roman Catholic Church. It is tiue, in the begin- 
ning they had won over some persons from staunch 
church families, but this ceased, and they 
became a close corjioration, living in themselves 
and to themselves. Thus they shut themselves 
off from sympathy ; wiiile even the persecution 
w^as wanting that lirst made them objects of 
observation. Also they differed from lio other 
body of Christians on what would be esteemed 
great principles ; for they were then orthodox 
in all the great matters of faith, believing in the 
Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Since then 
they have marvelously changed. Their j)osition 
as a dissenting Dody was that of the negation of 
rule, form, and ceremony ; while the grand right 
of private judgement and individual responsi- 
bility, of which they had at Jirst been eminent 
exponents, had come to be a part of the creed of 
all bodies : the English churcli, as we have seen, 
running to the very excess of that salutary 
principle. So the Friends in Maryland were 
now^ no longer feared. They were objects of 
consideration, but it was for missionary work. 
An attempt was made to send a missionary 
amongst them, and one of the tracts circulated 
was entitled "A Serious Call to ye Quakers," 
with probably, however, very little effect. 

P^or the closeness of their body w^as rigidly 
maintained, and a thorough inculcation of their 
principles was from the earliest years a part of 
their children's education. They were taught 



146 CHURCH LIFE 

that tliey were born in the "meeting" and that 
they were to esteem it a blessed birthright. 
Now and then, under the fascination of bright 
eyes or winning ways, a son or daughter wonkl 
go off and be married by a " hireling ' ' minister 
to. one of the outside world, \)\\t such conduct 
was so strongly reprobated, with threats of 
prosecution and dire ill to the said hireling, that 
the offence was not likely to become common. 
The rigidness with which they maintained their 
separation is exemplified in their "Enquiries" 
of the year 1725, addressed to the members of the 
meeting, one of which was " Are all careful to 
keep uj) their ancient and Christian testimony 
against tithes, priest's wages, repairing of their 
houses, called .churches, or any other ceremony 
of that nature." This their testimony was both 
ancient(!) and Cliristian(!) and as it affected not 
only their principles but their pockets, doubt- 
less it was kept up. Thus they were brought 
into conscious antagonism with the great body of 
their fellow citizens, and as a fact they have 
always been a sejmrated people in every society. 
For their segregation w^ent into everything. 
They worshipped apart, protesting, as we have 
seen, against the name of church ; they married 
apart and banished every son or daughter who 
did not conform in this ; their, language, their 
views of certain social duties and (vbligations, as 
of oaths and bearing arms, were different; their 
dress even made them distinct from all about 
them. And the discipline of the meeting 
enforced and compelled these things. In all 
business matters, also, as far as possible, they 
kept themselves to themselves ; one of the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 147 

enquiries running, "AVhether there are any 
masters of trade that want apprentices, or 
children of Friends to be put forth, that they 
apply themselves to the monthly meeting before 
they take those that are not Friends or put forth 
their children to such." Nor is this the only 
instance. Everything was to be done as far as 
possible within the society; disputes to be 
settled, the poor to be provided for and educated, 
and a general supervision to be exercised over 
various of the common matters of life. After- 
wards thier views upon the then social institution 
of the country, slavery, separated them further 
from the people. 

And this separation is probably the only 
cause why they have continued to exist. For as 
some among them believe now, who yet by old 
habit and education still retain their "birthright," 
Quakerism has seen its day of usefulness and 
now may without loss x>ass away. They have 
swung away from their old moorings in the 
matter of faith, and their ideas of spiritual 
enlightenment, and individual responsibility, and 
private judgment, of which in their earlier days, 
they were the most j^ronounced expression, have 
now become common property. One danger 
they avoided which with the other peculiarities 
is remarkable, because a danger that, has 
destroyed so many other like societies, viz: the 
community of goods. A care for the general 
body and all its members was requisite, and a 
large submission of their will to the common 
voice; but with all the' enthusiasm of earlier 
days, the rules of private thrift and individual 
wealth have never been forgotten, wliile the 



148 CHURCH LIFE 

comnmiiity lias seldom been dishonored by sharp 
practices or the dishonesty of its members. 

The churcli in Maryland was now passing 
through turbnlent days, as extreme, i)robably, as 
any to which it was ever subjected. It had 
grown in numbers, the parishes in 1722 amount- 
ing to thirty-eight, with about three thousand 
c(mimunicants and eleven thousand families 
attached to it. The ])arishes also were well 
supplied, in 1782 the re])ort being made to the 
Bishop of London that there was but one vacant 
parish in the colony. Indeed, from this time on 
Maryland was always well supplied with clergy, 
and that because of their independent X)osition 
and the general sufficiency of the support 
provided. Towards the close of the colonial 
period there was even a superabundance of 
ministers in the province. 

But with the general prosperity of the church 
there was also much misfortune, for as a fact 
this was a time of unusual dis(^ord. One of the 
occasions of this, manifest upon the surface, was 
the attempt to divide some of the parishes, a 
project to which the cleig^y .^aovved their usual 
hostility, in which probal)ly they were only too 
sensitive. For the parishes having been erected 
when the po])ulation of the (M)lony was very 
sparse, nuniy of them were exceedingly large, and 
far beyond the power of one man efficiently to 
care for; a stretch of teriitory sixty nnles long 
and containing from four to five hundred families 
j)recluding frequent ministrations, and (jhurch 
services were necessarily denied to a large 
proportion of the people. But the attempt to 
divide excited the fears and the loud protests of 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 149 

the clergy. They looked upon it as a 1)1 ow aimed 
at their interests, and an assault upon their 
rights. They feared also the spirit that was 
abroad, opposition to them being in the air, 
and they looked out upon poverty and destitu- 
tion as their oncoming portion. Even some of 
the best men of the province had this feeling, 
Mr. Wilkinson, the commissary of the Eastern 
Shore and one universally commended, being 
among the most earnest to protest. The civil 
authorities, however, went forward, various 
parishes were divided, and morejaborers entered 
the field, doubtless with exceedingly good 
results. 

The spirit that was abroad also manifested 
itself in another way, and the fears of the clergy 
were excited by an attempt to reduce the poll 
tax by which their salaries weie paid, the amount 
of reduction proposed being one-fourth. This 
was a sweeping measu.re bearing upon all the 
ministers alike, and therefore it was ax>t to do 
far more harm than the other ; for while many of 
the parishes might be too large, there were some 
where the income was exceedingly small, and a 
reduction of one-fourth meant distress and suffer- 
ing to the minister. The agitation of this 
question began about the year 1728, and, of 
course, it excited the liveliest alarm. The clergy 
sent up their protest and i)etition against what 
they deemed an iniquitous measure; and truly 
there was that about it which showed that the 
authorities were not treating them sincerely. 
For the plea was that over-production had 
reduced the price of the staple, and the plan 
proposed was to limit the growth and so force the 



J 50 CHURCH LIFE 

market up as tliat thirty pounds would be of as 
high a value as forty then were. But their want 
of sincerity was seen in the provision that the law 
allowed the planter to pay in money or tobacco 
as he might prefer, the rate of commutation 
being fixed, so that when the market was good 
the clergy would get money, but when it was 
poor they would get the tobacco. 

Therefore there was good ground for alarm. 
For the law was passed by the Assembly, and the 
clergy in their extremity approached the society 
for the propagation of the Gospel for relief. 
They also by their agent, whom they sent to 
England, Mr. Henderson, approached the king, 
the proprietary, and the Bishop of London, seek- 
ing protection. As it hapx^ened the proprietary, 
with whom rested the power of vetoing bills 
passed by the Assembly, refused to confirm the 
law, and moreover, assured the clergy of his 
favor and protection. Probably, as it turned out, 
the agitation of this measure advanced their 
interests, as in 1729 a law was passed limiting 
the production of tobacco. In 1780, however, 
another measure was passed by the Assembly 
which allowed the ^myment of one-fourth of the 
tax in grain, which became a law. The clergy 
were at first alarmed, as they had been before, 
though experience of the measure seems to have 
removed their fears. Like many of the colonial 
laws it was enacted only for a given period, and 
was from time to time renewed. The (ujndition 
of the clergy in the province was now, taken 
altogether, very much improved, for the popula- 
tion had in most parts greatly increased and 
their incomes wei'e generally sufficient. In one 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 151 

parish, and that not an exceptional one, the 
taxables between 1698 and 1726 had increased 
about eighty per cent. 

All this agitation, however was symptomatic, 
for the colony was in a turbulent condition, and 
as doubtless could not be avoided, the clergy 
were drawn into the prevailing disputes. Never 
had their character been higher, nor their con- 
duct as men and ministers more commendable. 
Those in authority in the province testified to 
this. Many of them had long been residing in 
their parishes and their sympathies and their 
hopes were identified with those of their people. 
They were also, notwithstanding their diverse 
nationalities, more than one-half being English, 
nearly one-half Scotch, and the remainder Irish, 
generally harmonious among themselves, and 
met in convocation from year to year. Still 
when one came to describe them, as was done in 
1722, a man might be said to be a good preacher, 
an excellent good man, a good scholar, or some 
less complimentary term might be used, but he 
was always a whig, a tory or a stickler for the 
present happy Establishment. 

The occasion of this disturbance was a dis- 
cussion that divided the colony for about ten 
years beginning with the year 1722 ; the subject 
being the extension of English statutes to civil 
and criminal j)i'^><"^clure in the Maryland courts; 
one of those struggles that marked the spirit of 
the people and gradually prepared the way for 
the final effort for independence. According to 
the rule no statute passed by the Assembly was 
oi:)erative if disapproved by the proprietary, who 
under his charter had this authority ; a power in 



153 CHURCH LIFE 

liis hands which the people feared would be 
prejudicial to their rights and liberties ; and 
they also at this time claimed, what was a fact, 
that until now, when there was no cohmial law 
covering a case, the courts had applied the 
English statutes. The upper house whi(rh always 
supported the prerogatives of the Proprietary, 
resisted this claim, and denied the fact ; and the 
agitation became rancorous, The colonists insis- 
ted they w ere still Englishmen, and had sacrificed 
none of their privileges by passing over to the 
colonies ; though they were inconsistent in this, 
that they accepted only such English laws as 
binding as were agreeable to themselves and 
found to be convenient ; for they dreaded the 
prerogative of parliament as much as they did 
that of the proprietary. At that time, indeed, 
things were very much undefined in the whole 
matter of colonial administration ; for England 
had not yet learned how to bring up her children. 
The question was finally settled with something 
like a compromise between the contending 
parties. 

Into this agitation the clergy were almost of 
necessity drawn ; for it was a subject that deeply 
concerned the interests of the people, the dispute 
arising upon the passage of an act in 1722 entitled 
''An Act of Linutation of Actions of Trespass 
and Ejectment." General x>rinciples were soon 
enunciated and the discussion spread everyw here. 
It is easy to imagine where the (dergy would 
be found in this question ; for born and reared 
as they almost all were, if not all, abroad, they 
had not that instinctive sense of popular rights 
which always characterized the American colo- 



IW COLONIAL MARYLAND. 158 

nists, that jealousy of interference l)y any 
privileged person or class, so that now as always, 
the great body there were ranked upon the side 
of the proprietary and prerogative. This was 
almost inevitable ; for prerogative was not an 
alarming word to them, it l)eing their yearning 
desire all through the colonial days of Maryland 
to have the jnerogatives of a bishop brought to 
bear upon their church life, and their strong 
conviction that such prerogative ahme could 
save the chui'ch's fair name. This question was 
mingled with the agitation now. For it was just 
before this time that the attempt was made to 
secure from the Legislature the confirmation of the 
disciplinary power of the Bishop of London over 
the persons of the clergy, and it was during this 
agitation in 1727, that Mr. Colebatch, spoken of 
in the highest terms for his excellence was 
prevented by a writ of N^ exeat, issued by the 
colonial courts, from obeying the summons to go 
to England to be ccmsecrated for the colonies. 
And so, in the personal abuse hurled by one of 
the leaders of the peox)le at this time, Mr. 
Thomas Bordley, against commissary Henderson, 
he charges him with going to England to seek 
the episcopate. 

The instincts of the clergy, therefore, lay with 
the proprietary during the struggle, and in a 
proportionate degree they were antagonized by 
the peop)le. This was the assertion of Governor 
Calvert in 1726. They were opposed because 
they were supporters of the king and the j)ro- 
prietary. They were always on the side of 
prerogative, and doubtless it would be found, 
could the matter be fully known, that verv much 



154 CHURCH LIFE 

of tlie scandal that was uttered against them, 
had its origin in the jealousy and hatred born of 
political prejudice. For it requires but a very 
small foundation to enable animosity, so born to 
raise a very large and imposing structure. And 
so the agitation of the question about their salary, 
and the attempt to reduce the amount. It was 
as a punishment for their political opinions and 
the use of their influence against a popular 
movement. 

But these were not the only means made use of 
to express the politicians' ill will. We have 
seen the attempt to divide parishes, for which in 
some instances there was some justification ; but 
the antagonism showed itself also in raising the 
question whether the act of establishment had 
been duly passed, the same as was done in 
another great period of trouble. This, however, 
was not pushed, as doubtless it could not be. 
Another attempt was made to establish an 
ecclesiastical court for the trial (^f clergymen, to 
be composed in part of laymen; but this also 
failed, the Governor disapproving of the measui'e, 
both because lay jurisdiction was not sufficient 
in the case, and also because there was no call 
for such a court, the reputation of the clergy 
being good. Nor was it only by such public 
measures that antagonism was shown, but 
also the sjurit that was abroad manifested itself 
in acts of personal violence, and blows were 
given, and sometimes returned by, the clergy. 
Even Gov. Calvert himself descended into the 
arena, though as it seems only to offer threats 
which he did not carry out. Mr. commissary 
Henderson, who stood forward for the clergy as 



IJ^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 155 

their chain pion, and who was courageous enough 
to vindicate their position and their rights, 
came in for a very large share of the plentiful 
abuse. A tory of the tories, he was also both 
by temper and disposition, the man to be in the 
very thickest of the tight. If his enemies are to 
be i3elieved, he w^as not wanting in the qualities 
of a practical diplomatist. 

These troubles continiied down to the year 
1732, when the colony obtained peace by some- 
thing like a compromise with the proprietary. 
Probably also the depressed financial condition, 
that had earlier ))een felt, had noAv been relieved 
by a better demand for tobacco ; for the market 
for that staple has, it is likely, always been 
subject to rapid fluctuations, and with their 
increased resources the colonists had lost their 
irritati(m. Churchmen also doubtless had come 
to recognize the fact, that for them at least, the 
establishment afforded clerical ministrations at 
as small an exaction as any other system could 
provide, and they became content to let well 
enough alone; for for thirty years and more there 
was comparative peace. 

The proprietary at this time was Charles Y I, 
Lord Baltimore, a young man and new to affairs. 
He did not rank high amongst his contemporaries 
even in later years, for good judgment, commit- 
ting indiscretions that have done more to 
immortalize him than his virtues have. Possibly 
his want of experience largely promoted the 
dissensions of the colony, though he showed a 
consistency and force during the great agitation, 
that indicate him to have been a man of force of 
character. He came into the colonv in 1732, and 



156 CHURCH LIFE 

the difficulties that had distracted the church so 
violently, particularly within the last two years 
since Mr. Henderson's return from England, 
were calmed down. For the clergy avowed 
themselves his strong supporters, and his kind 
feeling for them and the establishment, which 
had prompted him to stand their friend earlier in 
the contest, now made him their advocate and 
defender, assuring them of his protection. He 
also favored any attempts made by the commis- 
sary to execute the duties of his office in the 
exercise of discipline, though unfortunately his 
residence in the colony was so short that soon 
after his departure, Mr. Henderson gave uj) his 
commissi(m in disgust, having been unable to 
accomplish any permanent good. With him the 
office ceased, as possessing but little authority 
or influence, and the clergy were left destitute 
of even a nominal head in Maryland. The 
authority of the proprietary under his charter 
and the law, could be exercised only to gall and 
irritate, while the jurisdiction of tlie Bishop of 
Lcmdon, was for all purposes of administration, 
only a name. 

It was at this time, about the year 1725, that the 
non-juring Bishops, Talbot and Welton, were in 
Maryland, where according to report, they exer- 
cised their office. They were, however, but 
coldly received; for they represented a party in 
the church which were bitterly opposed to the 
reigning family of Great Britain, and conse- 
quently they met with no sympathy in Maryland, 
where the clergy generally were loyal to the 
house of Hanover. And as also the laity of the 
province, as of America everywhere, were 



JiV^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 157 

op]:>osed to the Epis(Mjpal office, the work of 
these gentlemen was nothing. It has even 
recently been asserted, with abundant reason, that 
in the Nortli one of the great leading causes of 
the American Revolution was the proposition to 
introduce Episcopacy: and certainly for years 
after that Revolution the office was looked upon 
with fear and suspicion. Maryland was no less 
sensitive than Massachusetts to the introduction 
of an irresponsible authority, and hence the 
failure of these non- jurors. The introduction of 
Bishops was strongly agitated at this time, and 
mention is made in 1724 of a legacy of two 
thousand pounds sterling, left by the late Arch- 
bishop of Cante^iry, towards the support of a 
Bishop for the pmnfations. Perha]3S, however, 
the most fortunate thing that could have 
happened to the church in the colonies, was the 
non-introduction of Bishops ; for certainly had 
they been introduced with the privileges and 
ju'eroga lives that go with the office, and with 
the associations that dung about it as an 
English institutiim, in the extreme suspicion 
and sensitiveness of the people to any approach 
to arbitrary power, the church would have lost 
many sons and daughters, and would herself have 
been put undei' the ban of public condemnation. 
For a Bishop hated and abhorred, would have 
been more damaging than many parsons scorned 
and maligned. A Divine Providence was doubt- 
less ordering for the highest good. 



158 CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PAKTSII. 

The Rev. Peter Tiistian, the second rector of 
St. James' Parish, took charge of the same on 
the twenty-ninth day of March in the year 1722. 
He had come to America in the year 1719, as a 
Missionary sent out by the Venerable Society, 
and had at first gone to South Carolina, where he 
remained but a short time, being found in St. 
Margaret's, Westminster Parish, Maryland, in 
1721 r The form of his induction runs as follows: 

(Maryl'cLSS.) Charles Calvert Esq., Gov. of 
Maryl'd, Commander-in-Chief, to the (lent. of the 
Vestry of St. James's Church in Ann Arundell 
Co. Greeting: 

Whereas, the Rev. Mr. Peter Tustian, an 
Orthodox Minister of the Church of P^ngland, 
was sent and recommended by the Lord Bishop 
of London and Diocesan of this province, to ofRci- 
ate as such in any part of America, I do there- 
fore hereby recomend and appoint the said Peter 
Tustian to be rector of your parish, and direct 
you to receive him as incumbent thereof, and 
will you to be aiding and assisting to him in all 
tilings becoming, to the end he may receive the 
full bennifits and perquisites to his office apx>er- 



IM COLONIAL MARYLAND. 159 

taining, together with the forty pounds of 
tobacco per poll arising within the parish 
afores'd. 

Given at the city of Annapolis this 29th day of 
March in the 7th year of ye dominion of the Rt. 
Honorable Charles, Lord Baron of Baltimore, 
Absolute Lord and Prop'ty of the province of 
Maryland and Avalon, &c., Annoq: Dom. 1722, 
and in the 8th year of his Majesties reign. 

Cha/ Calvert. 

For some reason this form of the induction of 
Mr. Tustian did not prove satisfactory to him, so 
that on the fourteenth day of July "he utterly 
disclaimed any benihts" arising from it, and 
presented a second letter bearing the date of the 
lifth of April, which reads as follows: 

''By the Hon. Chas. Calvert Esq., Captain 
Generall, Lieut. Gov. etc., to the Gentle'm of 
the Yestry of St. James' Parrish in Ann Arund'll 
County. Greeting: 

Whereas, the Rev. Mr. Peter Tustian has been 
sent and recomended by the Right Rev. Father 
in God, Jno. Lord Bishop of London and Dio- 
cesan of this Province, to officiate here as an 
Orthodox Minister of the Church of England, I 
do therefore hereby collate and appoint the said 
Peter Tustian, to be rector of your parish, and I 
do will and require you to be aiding and assist- 
ing to him the said Peter Tustian, so that he may 
have the full bennihts of the forty pounds of 
tobacco per poll arising within the parrish afore- 
said, together with all other bennitits and per- 
quisites thereunto belonging: Given, &c. 

The two forms, it will he observed, differ in 
some respects, the second being in some particu- 



160 CHURCH LIFE 

lars more expli(^it. There seems to have been no 
settled form at tliis time appointed, and it was 
probably to provide against contingencies that 
Mr. Tustian songht to have everything exact. 
He may have thonght that difficulties might 
arise, as afterwards the^^ did, between him and 
the vestry, and he wonhl provide against techni- 
calities npon which the vestry might seize. So 
that the Govern or \s title is more accurately given 
and the due legal name and style of the Bishop 
of London. Also, we have the term ''collate'' 
instead of ''recommend,'' and the clerk's attesta- 
tion is appended that such is a true copy. The 
times were l^eginning to get troublous, and Mr. 
Tustian nuiy have proceeded out of abundant 
caution. The subsequent difficulty into which 
he got with the vesti'y proves him to have been a 
man of great persistency. 

It will be observed also that both these forms 
differ from that of Mr. Hall in 1698, the reason of 
which was that in 1715, uj)on the Lords Balti- 
Tuore bec(miing Protestant again, having abjured 
the Roman faith, the administration of their 
cohmv was restored to them, and continued in 
their 'hands till 17715. Tlie Charles Calvert who 
wh<^ signed the above, was not the proprietary, 
as is seen, but of a collateral branch of the 
family. It is to ))e obsened, however, that he 
acts l)y his own authority, and says "I collate 
and ax^point;" for such was a governor's function 
under the law of 1702, it not being supposable, 
that while the coh)ny was under the royal juris- 
di(.*ti(m, the ap]>ointments to benefices in Mary- 
land should proceed from a higher source. 
Afterwards when a coronet, and not a crown 



/iV^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 161 

adorned the head of the absolute Lord of Mary- 
land, the governors were, though long after this, 
deprived of this ^prerogative, and his Lordsliii3, 
falling back upon his charter, collated the in- 
cumbents himself, a change in the agent that 
was not always profitable to the iDeople. For the 
dignity of his Lordship's title was sometimes far 
superior to the dignity of his character, and boon 
companions of his revels in London, were the 
commissioned objects of his favor for Maryland. 

Nor are we to understand of the Bishop of 
London's recommendation that it was any guar- 
antee of the man' s good character or qualification 
for ministeral work. For on a clergyman's pre- 
senting his pa]3ers, unless the Bishop knew of 
some error or fault in him he must receive him, 
and allow him to become eligible in his diocese 
to any position that might be bestowed upon 
him. He could proceed against him if he knew 
of occasion; otherwise the man was in good 
standing. That was all that was meant by the 
words of the induction, "sent and recom- 
mended." It would be sad to make a Bishop 
responsible for the bad men that may from time 
to time afflict his diocese; though it is to be feared 
that due scrutiny was not always used of the 
record of those sent over to America. 

As regards Mr. Tustian, however, he was a 
good man, and at the same time a man of ability 
apparently. For in the year 1731, when the 
province was still in the throes of its great 
troubles, and also excited against the clergy in 
the matter of the forty pounds, we find him 
highly commended for having preached an excel- 
lent sermon before the Governor of the colony 



163 CHURCH LIFE 

and the two houses of the Assembly, a good old 
custom of those days; for if there was some 
]3reaching to those honorable gentlemen now, 
doubtless prayers for them would be more effec- 
tual. His work in the parish also, would indi- 
cate that he belonged to a higher class of men. 
For fortunately we have two formal reports from 
him concerning the parish's condition. The 
first of tliese is in the year 1724, two years after 
he became rector, and from it we learn that there 
were then within its borders about one hundred 
and fifty families. Of these about two-thirds are 
described as attending church, while the dis- 
senters are declared to have been, of Quakers 
forty families, of Papists five families, and of 
Presbyterians and Anabaptists one each. As 
many as forty persons sometimes received Holy 
Communion, which was administered monthly. 
The negro slaves are described as infidels, and 
their children but rarely baptised. Why this 
should have been so it is difficult to apprehend ; 
because, as already seen, one of the difficulties 
that Mr. Hall had had in the beginning of his 
ministry, was because of his baptizing negro slaves. 
It may have been that Quaker infiuence, more than 
one-fourth of the people in the parish being of 
that name, or political misrepresentation about 
the civil effect of baptism, that it freed the slaves, 
or both, had caused the rite to be neglected. It 
is certain, however, as the register shows, that Mr. 
Tustian bax^tised very few of either whites or neg- 
roes, or if he did they are not recorded. One of 
the great leading subjects at this time was the care 
of slaves, and also of the Indians, some of which 
latter were still found in the province. Many of 



IN COLOmAL MARYLAND. 168 

the clergy were diligent in baptizing tlie blacks, 
and Mr. Tnstian, in liis second report in 1731, 
says that he has in his parish large nnnibers of 
''christian negroes." And it was not only bapt- 
ism that was insisted on; it was iiistructioa as 
Avell. Upon this point dwelt the Bishop in his 
commnnications, and also the commissary; and 
often their appeals were responded to by not 
only the clergy, bnt by the masters and mis- 
tresses also. This is the testimony, while of 
conrse we lind the masters, in some places, 
objecting to such instruction becanse it made the 
servants "rogues," a constituency of grumblers 
that existed to the last days of the ''twin relic." 
A man of strong parts was ever able, however, 
to accomplish this, as all other good things. 
Mr. Tnstian evidently possesed these parts, and 
certainly he took a deej) interest in the slave; for 
in his last report made to convocation, he says, 
that "ever since he came into the the parish h*^ 
had had a large number of Christian -^leirroes ' 
Some of them were commnnicants. a;,'' -i '.'Tei.j 
many had been bai)tised. The : . - 

between the two reports is j)roba - ^ 
plained by the fact, that at the time of the hrsi 
one he was not familiar with the true state of 
things. 

Bnt it was not religions instruction only that 
was looked to and i)rovided for. It w^as urged 
for all classes, the great work of the church in 
the midst of the unfavorable circumstances of 
the colony. But secular education was no less 
aimed at, a law having been passed in 1723 jDro- 
viding for the establishment of one school in 
each county, as near the centre as possible. The 



104 CHURCH LIFE 

aim also was to make tliem free, and for' that 
end a farm of one hundred acres of land was 
to be purchased. Certain lines also were appro- 
priated in that way. How far the system proved 
effective is not known; though such schools 
continued to exist down through the colonial 
period. Some of them were afterwards combined 
together to form schools of a higher grade; for 
the course of instruction proposed for the earlier 
institutions, was not very thorough, the qualifi- 
cations for the teacher being ' 'That he be capable of 
teaching well the Grammar, good writing and 
mathematics, if such can conveniently be got." 
Charlotte Hall and Washington College had their 
origin in these schools. King William's School, 
out of which St. John's College grew, was insti- 
tuted much earlier than this, being provided for 
by an act of the Assembly in 1696. These schools 
also were to be Christian institutions; and it is 
one item marking the esteem of the peoi3le and 
the coniidence in which the clergy were held, 
that one of them was to be head of each county 
board of managers. 

In addition to such schools there were various 
private ones throughout the colony, taught 
chiefly by the clergy, of whom there were many 
who were very well qualified for this task. For 
in all periods there were men of eminent talents 
and education, like Mr. Skippon, who in 1723 
was described as an excellent scholar. They 
were found also able to wield a trenchant pen and 
whenever the battle of controversy raged they 
were found in the thickest of the fight. There 
were also schools sometimes on plantations, 
family schools with private tutors; though here 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 165 

the grade, one would suppose, was not so liigli, 
judging from the following advertisement under 
date of 1774, "To be sold, a schoolmaster, an 
indented servant, who has tw^o years to serve. 
N. B. — He is sold for no fault, any more than we 
have done wdth him. He can learn book-keeping 
and is an excellent good scholar." Altogether, 
the standard of education was not generally high, 
and a great deal of what is called "quaint'' as 
belonging to that day was simply odd because 
the work of the unlettered. But at the same 
time in all the departments of life, there were 
gentlemen of cultivation and learning, with 
extensive attainments; some of whom had gone 
abroad for their training; while the frequent 
agitation of the times brightened the wits and 
fostered the the consideration of great questions, 
so that some of the names of Maryland's worthies 
of that early x>eriod will never be forgotten. 
The x^lanters, however, were doubtless not edu- 
cated, but were blessed with abundant vumiiK/n 
sense and penetration; while the whole laboring 
class was ignorant of the commonest ""- 

Some of the things mentioned in th 
those times surprise and interest us nc . u i i' a- 
larly because they are associated with some mod- 
ern causes for discussion. Among these is the 
question propounded among the articles of 
enquiry of the year 1717 "Do your parishioners 
use due and lowly reverence when they hear the 
name of the Blessed Jesus"? Also " have you a 
font at the lower end of the church"? How they 
were answered we are not told, though probably 
the rules in such cases were observed in various 
places. If so, they had ceased to be, not only in 



lOG CHURCH LIFE 

Maryland, but generally in other parts of 
America before the hnal disni lotion. There were, 
however, many irregular things done in those 
days, as we may well believe ; for if discipline 
failed in other resx3ects there certainly was not 
enough of it to keep men from indifference in 
the matter of rubrical order. Things were not as 
bad though in Maryland as they were in Virginia. 
For the picture which the Rev. Hugh Jones 
draws in 1724, though he had been in Maryland, 
was of things in the sister colony. Maryland 
churchmanship was always more orderly, chiefly 
because the pulpit was more independent of the 
pews, and consulted its own sense of what was 
right and becoming. Mr. Jones' words are : 
"In several respects the clergyman is obliged to 
omit or alter parts of the liturgy and deviate 
from the strict discipline to avoid giving offence. 
Thus surplices, disused there for a long time in 
most churches by bad examples, carelessness 
and indulgence, are now beginning to be brought 
into fashion, not without difficulty ; and in some 
parishes, where the people have been used to 
receive the communion in their seats, a custom 
introduced for opportunity for such as were 
inclined to Presbytery, to receive the sacrament 
sitting; it is not so easy a matter to bring them 
to the Lord's table on their knees." The surplice 
Avas always used in Maryland, certainly in most 
places, through the days of the colony. In St. 
James' Parish this vestment is frequently men- 
tioned, while there is no allusion whatever to 
the gown. How the great change could have 
come about that the gown became the vestment 
in common use, displacing the surplice, would 
afford a curious studv. 



I^^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. ' 167 

St. James' Parish continued tlirongli all this 
period to increase in numbers and to grow 
strong in spiritual life ; nor is there any evidence 
that the skepticism that existed in certain x^arts 
of the colony was found here. How far it 
existed anywhere in the colony it is difficult to 
say ; for in this, as in a great many other things 
then, there was a good deal of exaggeration. 
Preachers preaching the truth were a great 
preservative against this j)estilence ; and ■ such 
blessing doubtless most of the parishes of Mary- 
land, along with St. James,' enjoyed. That it 
did exist, however, the terrible law of 1723, b^ore 
noted, indicates, a law like that of 1649, visiting 
with fine, forfeiture, branding, imprisonment 
and death any persons "blaspheming" the 
Holy Name, or denyiiio^ the Trinity, or the 
Divinity of our Blessecl^Lord ; only the earlier 
act included under its bcm^t^ose who should fail 
in reverence for the ^""iitel Mary. Whether 
such a law could have\Spii enforced in the 
eighteenth century is doubtful, or whether it 
was only enacted as a iVotest by the civil 
authority against what was feared as a growing 
spirit of the times. Certainly the iniquity did 
abound abroad and was very fashionable. The 
law evidences one thing very clearly, that Chris- 
tianitj^ was felt to be the mainstay and hope of 
the province, and that offence offered to it was 
regarded as the highest crime. Maryland was 
not narrowly dogmatic, for all forms of belief 
and worship were tolerated ; but it was strongly 
religious and dreaded unbelief as an elem^^^aAd 
cause of ruin. 

That St. James' continued to grow in nu] 




168 CHURCH LIFE 

is manifested by the further demand made at 
this time for the enlargement of the parish 
church. That demand was evidently very large 
and very pressing, and was satisfied in two ways; 
in 1722 a gallery being erected across the west 
end of the building, extending out ten feet, and 
in 1723 the east end of the church was opened 
and an addition of twelve feet made to it, thus 
together increasing the capacity of the church 
for worshippers much more than one-half, if not 
nearly doubling it. For outside the chancel in 
the original building there were probably not more 
than thirty feet available for pews. The contract 
for this last work sounds rather odd to our ears, 
being as follows : "Agreed with John Polston to 
build an addition to the east end of the church, 
extending twelve foot, and the same width of the 
said church, to be sealed within like the other 
part, to make a handsome altar-piece, a new 
communion table, two new window frames, and 
one for the end of the addition, if the vestry 
thinks convenient ; to fix the bannisters around 
the said table, as before removed, the said Pol- 
ston to find everything towards the said structure, 
having liberty to take framing stuff from the 
glebe land for the said addition ; all which is to 
be done workmanlike ; in consideration whereof 
the vestry agrees to give the said Polston nine 
thousand pounds of tobacco and liberty of 
making and disposing of the pews in the said 
addition, the said work to be done, &c." In due 
time the work was completed and "the said" 
Polston sold the eight pews, there appearing to 
be a very large demand ; for as small as they 
necessarily were, the most of them were sold to 



m COLONIAL MARYLAND. 169 

two persons conjointly, and one of tliem to three. 
The era of church building had not yet set in, 
thongli from 1732 onAvards churches were erected. 
The period of rebuilding came in later, about 
forty years after this time. The original small 
frame buildings had to do duty for some years 
yet. The distinction between communion table 
and altar is more in agreement with Methodist 
usage than our own at present, and like the 
present title, "Protestant Episcopal," found 
nearly sixty years before this time, shows that 
more things have been inherited from those days 
than we give them credit for. AVhat may have 
been the architectural appearance of the church 
after all these changes, is a difficult question, 
but doubtless the longing was fostered for the 
time when a structure worthy of the parish and 
large enough to provide room for all that might 
come to worship, might be erected. 

Things proceeded quietly in the parish during 
Mr. Tustian's ministry, the vestry attending to 
their various duties of caring for the material 
welfare of the church, the moral condition of the 
people, and the financial aifairs of the common- 
wealth within their jurisdiction. The last they 
performed by appointing counters to regulate 
and control the growth of tobacco, the law for- 
bidding at this time more than a limited amount 
to each taxable, 7,000 plants; with half that 
quantity to non-taxables. Their care for the 
morals of the people is shown by the following, 
of the date of 1733: "Upon complaint of Samuel 
Taylor and Ann Howard's unlawfully cohabiting 
together, this vestry has ordered that the said 
Samuel Taylor and Ann Howard be summoned 



170 CHURCH LIFE 

to appear before them at the Parrish Church on 
Tuesday the 24th day of July, to answer to the 
above complaint." This summons was obeyed, 
and upon the appearance of the parties they 
were informed by the vestry that upon examina- 
tion, the charge was well founded, and they were 
ordered to mend their ways. Fortunately such 
cases were now far less frequent. By a law 
passed in 1780, persons refusing to become 
vestrymen upon election, were lined a thousand 
pounds of tobacco, the amount at tirst laid ux^on 
church wardens for refusing to serve. If they did 
serve, the service was to be real and not merely 
nominal, for refusal or failure to attend the meet- 
ings of the vestry subjected the delinquent to a 
further penalty. 

The church at this time came into possession 
of the silver bason which it still has, the gift 
provided for by the Rev. Mr. Hall in his will. 
In 1724 Mr. Tustian reported to the vestry that 
he had received from Mrs. Mary Hall bills of 
exchange for ten j)ounds sterling, which amount 
the vestry authorized him to expend according to 
the terms of the legacy, and in 1726 we have the 
account rendered for the total of the bason, ten 
pounds and six shillings. Also in 1723 we find 
William Loch Esq., informing the vestry "that 
it was the desire of his wife upon her death bedd 
to give the sum of ten pounds towards adorning 
the altar of St. James' Parrish Church with the 
Creed, Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments, 
which according to her desire he is ready to 
comply with. Whereupon he desired the vestry 
to agree with the joyner for the same." This 
was done, and according to the lady's pious wish 



in COLONIAL MARYLAND. 171 

tlie tablets were set up, the same doubtless that 
at present are found in the church; having been 
transferred when the present edifice replaced the 
old one. 

The last mention we have of Mr. Tustian as 
rector of St. James' was in the year 1732. In the 
year 1726 he had gone to England, remaining 
away probably over a year, as we have no men- 
tion of him for nearly eighteen months. Nor 
were any vestry meetings, it seems, held within 
this time except one, which may mean that the 
church was closed or that the rector's presence 
was needed to keep affairs active. After his 
withdrawal from the parish temporary supply 
was secured, apparently by the vestry, in the 
services of the Rev. John Urquhart, for nearly a 
year, and it is possible that Mr. Tustian made 
some such provision for his absence. The parish 
was x)eaceful during his incumbency, as far as 
we can discern, though the church in the pro- 
vince was so much disturbed. Later on, however, 
Ave find him engaged in a lawsuit concerning his 
salary, having sued the sheriff for sums due as 
Rector of St. James.' The vestry authorized the 
sheriff to allow the proceeding, and secured him 
against loss. The case having been passed ux3on 
in the colony and decided against Mr. Tustian, it 
was carried to England by appeal. How it was 
finally settled there we do not know^, nor do we 
know what the ground of the suit was. It ran 
through a number of years, the appeal being 
taken in 1740. 



172 CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER XII. 

THIRD RECTORSHIP. 
GENERAL REVIEW. 

The period we have now reached was, for a 
large part of it, marked with quietness both in 
England and the cok^nies. In the former the great 
series of whig administrations, which reached 
over an interval of about fifty years, persevered in 
their policy of peace, laying deep and strong 
that marvelous foundation on which England's 
glory and prosperity to this day rest. As before 
noted she sacrificed nothing in dignity by this 
policy; for she maintained always a position 
commanding the respect of the nations of Europe. 
How far her inactivity may have been the result 
of choice, or how far it*^may'have resulted from the 
exigencies of her situation in respect of the house 
of Stuart, that through this period watched its 
opportunity to make a successful descent upon 
England, is a question; but certain it is that 
there was abundant opportunity for an active 
foreign policy in the wars upon the continent, 
had England desired such opportunity. Men of 
peace were, however, at the head of affairs, who 
loved peace for its fruits; and bending all their 



/iV COLONIAL MARYLAND. 173 

energies, and the force of a wonderful organiza- 
tion, to maintain tlieir ends, tliey created a new- 
England, both in the developement of home 
industries and in the extension of an all-embracing 
foreign commerce. Afterwards the country 
broke loose from her peaceful habits and entered 
upon a course of almost wild indulgence in 
foreign wars, and luxuriated in the sound of 
battles and the scenes of carnage. But whether 
peace or war, every policy advanced England's 
greatness; for to all quarters of the globe she at 
this time extended her arms and established the 
beginnings of the greatest empire that the world 
has ever seen. She lost America; for she had 
not yet learned how to keej) her grown up child- 
ren at home; and she would not recognize that 
the American colonies were not still in their non- 
age; but she gained much else in their place, and 
what she then gained she knows now how to 
keep, and she is the mother country beloved, 
admired, glorified, to millions in every division 
of the globe. 

But these great conceptions had a secondary 
influence. For whether she regarded the ways 
of peace as advancing her internal prosperity, or 
whether as a giant she was struggling with the 
giants of the earth, so was her attention absorbed 
in the grander scenes that it became impossible 
for her to assume the narrowness of religious 
bigotry; but rather, by the very force of her 
circumstances her old persecuting edicts became 
practically obsolete and ready to vanish away. 
For bigotry and enterprise do not go hand in 
hand, but rather the former flourishes only in 
the self -absorption of a provincial temper; and 



174 CHURCH LIFE 

to lift a nation or an indi vicinal ont of tliis, and 
expand its faculties, its sympatliies, its ambition, 
is the sure and efficient means of doing away 
with religious or social intolerance. So ancient 
Rome was tolerant of all religions until they 
were feared as working sedition. So Charles V. 
as in contrast with his son, was tolerant, though 
he lived in unfortunate days. So Holland, in the 
days of her greatness, was the freest of European 
states, and William III. of England, her i^upil, 
the hrst liberal minded monarch of that realm. 
So the American colonies were in their earlier 
days intolerant in contrast to the times of their 
later exx)ansion, when they were brought to con- 
tend for larger civil rights. Such narrowness in 
America died a hastened death because of the 
great questions that led to and were finally 
determined by the protracted struggles of the 
Revolution. Small objects become invisible as 
great ones loom up before the eye. And so 
the great comprehensive enterprise of the home 
country worked out its effects there. The 
national mind had no time for the old subjects 
that had agitated it. 

To bring about this end had been the policy of 
whig ministries, a part of their general scheme 
for peace and quietness. The people must not 
be agitated, but every party and faction, as far 
as possible, conciliated. So with Walpole, who 
was the great leading figure of that i^eriod. His 
rule was, to off'end nobody, but by every possible 
device to satisfy or keep quiet all. So with the 
Test and Corporation acts. Should he enforce 
these the whole body of non-conformists would 
be terribly excited, and Parliament itself would 



IJ}1 COLONIAL MARYLAND. 175 

be shaken; but should lie repeal tliem tlie 
cliurclimen, who had lost none of their sensitive- 
ness, and the Avhole company of English squires, 
whose only learning then, whatever it may be 
now, was the traditions of their fathers, their 
prejudices and antipathies, would have been 
grievously oif ended. Neither of these things 
therefore did he do, but avoided danger for 
himself and his schemes, by allowing the laws 
to continue and having passed annually an act of 
indemnity for those who had rendered themselves 
liable to indictment. 

This was the policy the Whigs pursued, and 
it has been more or less the policy of the Whig 
or Liberal party from that day to this, — to 
provide lirst of all for the things that advance 
the prosperity of the people at home. It is the 
party of advance and of constant adaptation, 
though when a vigorous foreign policy has 
been found necessary the liberal party has 
been found abundantly capable of prosecuting it. 
Speaking of this long continued Whig adminis- 
tration, an eminent authority of to-day, Green, 
in his Short History, says ' ' Before the fifty years 
of their rule had passed Englishmen had for- 
gotten that it was possible to persecute for differ- 
ences of religion, or to j)ut down the liberty of 
the press, or to tami^er with the administration 
of justice, or to rule without a Parliament." 
Thus was laid the foundation of the England of 
to-day. 

But this general delineation must be modified 
by a few other lines. For it is a necessary 
question, how far this liability of the govern- 
ment in regard to religious matters, was the 



176 CHURCH LIFE 

result of statesmanship, and liow far it was the 
result of indifference. It was doubtless the best 
]30ssible rule to adojit, but also that time was in 
a remarkable degree distinguished for the scepti- 
cism of those highest in position, for depravity 
in morals and for looseness in the matter of 
social and domestic virtues. And all this was 
open and notorious, so that those highest in 
office as well as society, not only uttered the 
foulest language, but were guilty of drunken- 
ness, and thought nothing of parading their 
excesses before the world. From the court down, 
the enormity was everywhere presented. There 
was not enough care for religion in high quarters 
to persecute because of it. 

And the general rule held good, like people like 
priest, and that not only in the church but in the 
dissenting bodies. There was a decay of religion 
everywhere. England was striving to be rich, 
and wordly prosperity was abounding. Life, 
activity, enterprise, tilled the land, and a great 
future was opening up before the minds of the 
people; and the inevitable result was that spirit- 
ual prosx3erity and eternity faded from the 
people's conciousness. They made no demand, 
had no interest in a pure, vigorous gospel, and 
the ministers of the gospel, hardly concious, may 
be, of the influences to which they were sub- 
jected, gave way before the deluge of the time. 
So that the testimony is the strongest possible 
that laxity ruled amongst the clergy as every- 
where else. They were described as being ' 'the 
most lifeless in Euroi3e, the most remiss of their 
labors in private and the least severe in their 
lives." Nor is the testimony only by scoffers or 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 177 

by the wits of the ale houses. The clergy them- 
selves are brought forward as witnesses; and 
the consequence is, that we must look back u^ion 
that time, the period which we have now under 
view, as presenting the saddest conceivable pic- 
ture of apathy, indolence, self-indulgence, and 
recklessness of common report. The ale house, 
and the sporting field constrained the attention 
of those who wore the surxDlice; so that it was 
thought no disgrace to advertise: ''Wanted, a 
curacy in a good sporting country where the 
duty is light and the neighborhood convivial." 
And x)ublic ministrations were in harmony with 
this, dull, cold, lifeless condition. Men were afraid, 
apparently, of showing interest in their work lest 
they should be reviled as "Methodists," and all 
were satisfied with the baldest presentation of 
heartless sentiments. It was from such x)ersons 
at home that America had to be supplied. 

But what else was to be expected i It was the 
day when the slave trade was x3romoted, when the 
knowledge of human rights was the lowest possi- 
ble, when the Queen could issue her royal edict 
for the encouragement of the trade, when the 
protests of the colonists against the flood that 
was coming in on them, were regarded as little 
short of treason. A state of society where such 
tilings could be done, was not as yet callable of 
religious feeling of high order, or of response 
to generous sentiments. Religion is expansive 
and unless it expands it perishes. No man can 
love God as the God only of himself; he must 
love Him as the God of other people as well, as 
the God of all mankind. This was seen at that 
time, as in the burning heart of Wesley or of 



178 CHURCH LIFE 

Wbitlield, who sought not only England but the 
colonies as the field of their labor. So all great 
religions movements have resulted in the exten- 
sion of the gospel, and they have resulted either 
in the attempt to proselyte the x)eople of the 
same country, which has often degenerated into 
persecution ; ^ or else the religious fervor has 
sought new lields wherein to manifest itself. So 
the England of that time. It had lost the dispo- 
sition to proselyte the non- conformists, and its 
sense of the human rights of the heathen, was so 
low that missions to them were impossible. The 
nation that could carry on the slave trade could 
never so yearn for the souls of men as to send 
out Missionaries to preach the gospel. The trade 
was accomx^anied with the very extravagance of 
horrors. A voice of a Wilberforce that would 
not cease until it had made England sick with 
foul loathing of its own dej^ravity, was necessary 
before England could rise up to the condition in 
religious matters worthy of the greatness God 
had bestowed upon her in the midst of the 
nations. A universal hnancial x^i'^sperity, a 
devotion to the business of the merchant and the 
chapman, had destroyed the jDower of ajjprehend- 
ing better things, the things of God. The jDolicy 
of Walpole, developed as Walj^ole develo^oed it, 
was England's greatest bane. The heroic policy 
of which Pitt was the great exponent, though it 
drained the country of resources, and burdened 
it with a hoj)eless debt, jiroved infinitely more 
valuable for the true welfare of the country. 
Fortunately for England, and exhibiting the true 
merit of her peo^Dle, forces were now x)reparing 
among the young men of Oxford, in the very 



IW COLONIAL MARYLAND. 179 

midst of the sx^iritual barrenness there, whose 
operation was to renew^ the vigor of the cold 
lifeless body, and regenerate and energize all the 
strata of society from the highest to the lowest. 
Now^ such being the condition of things in 
England, we shonld expect wdiat we hnd, a 
measnrable reprodnction of the same in America. 
For the Rev. Thomas Bacon, writing in the year 
1750 to the Venerable Society, dwells with great 
emphasis upon the very sad condition of things. 
Speaking of the prevalent scepticism of the day, 
he gives ns some insight into the form it assumed 
by mentioning the influence of Tindal, who w^as 
a great light in the deistical world. Tindal 
called himself a ''Christian Deist," choosing that 
title as best suited to the x30sition he took in his 
most celebrated work, published in 1730, "Christi- 
anity as old as Creation or the Gospel a republi- 
cation of the religion of nature." For the phase 
of his deism was, that claiming for Christianity 
the highest expression of a moral code and 
worthy of "an inflnitely wise and good God," he 
denied to it all its claim to miracles. He was 
answered by such men as Dr. AVaterland. He 
had, however, his day, and was received, because 
he w^as the expression of a certain morbid senti- 
ment that at that time afflicted the community. 
For so without doubt are we to regard such 
passing states of society, whatever may be the 
cause. The moral and spiritual natures of men 
are afflicted with epidemics, as well as their phy- 
sical frames, and the maladies of the one are as 
easily traceable to their causes as the other; 
wdiile also the mystery that hangs about each of 
them is equal. As these epidemics return from 



180 CHURCH LIFE 

time to time, it is a question for us now how far 
our period is afflicted or tlireatened. 

But scei^ticism, in the great majority of cases, 
though by no means in all, is closely associated 
with, even as it has its origin in, a low standard 
of living, and itself promotes the growth of that 
which gives it life. And herein, doubtless, w^e 
have the prime occasion of many of the hard 
things that were said of the clergy through this 
time. Some of the clergy deserved, and some of 
them did not deserve, the reputation for dreadful 
things which was made to gather about them. 
A good man rebuking vice or rej)roving the 
wilt^il, gets scant justice from those whom he has 
endeavored to correct, and from all others who 
are in symx^athy with them, and whose ways are 
frowned upon in the rebuke administered. 
Besides, if such x^ersons have been able to 
become sceptics, as in reason they must desire, 
and if the times favor scex)ticism, as those times 
did, for it was in the air, the fashion of the day; 
then the rebuke is regarded as the insolence of 
of X3i'i<^st-<^i'afli and woe betide the poor x^arson, 
every ]}2ige of whose record is not written in 
clear letters of light for all to read. For if there 
be the slightest ground for a charge, or an 
ax^x^ai'^i^t flaw on which to hang a misrex^resenta- 
tion, the whole body of sceptics is excited with 
apostolic ardor, and the whole company of God's 
ministers are made to suffer. Our Savior in His 
day was to some a glutton and a wine-bitter. 

But not only in this way was evil wrought. 
The whole tone of the day was low. It was a 
time of transition, notably in America, and 
highly so in Maryland. Peox3le's minds w^ere 



ijSr COLONIAL MARYLAND. 181 

agitated by great questions, bat they were all of 
the earth. And mixed with the questions were 
prejudice and bitter passions. Politics ruled the 
hour with all its clemoralizing as well as its 
enobling inlluences, and finer sentiments were 
blunted. And the clergy, whose interests were 
involved in some measure, and whose instincts 
and education were in many ways played upon, 
sank to this level, and it became ''like people 
like priest." They were secularized, they became 
Avorldly, they fell from the high position which 
by their calling belonged to them; and with this 
secularization they doubtless conformed to the 
world about them, until the better sjiirits among 
them looked on in grief and protested, but in 
vain. The Rev. Hugh Jones writing in 1741, 
tells us of this, and vainly looked about for a 
remedy. But remedy there was none*. A 
Bishop could not be obtained, nor as we see now, 
would it have been for various reasons advisable. 
The commissary had surrendered his commission 
in disgust at his inefficiency; and as it hai^jjened, 
even what slight influence the Bishop of London 
had been able to exercise, was now cut off by the 
disagreement between him and the Proprietary. 
Bishop Gibson who had occupied that See for 
twenty-five years, dying in 1748, though in 
England his control was always felt in ecclesias- 
tical affairs, yet for Maryland could do nothing. 
The Proprietary became more and more jealous 
of interference by any one in his colony, and the 
same jealousy was felt both by the clergy and 
the laity in their several si3lieres. For the 
former dreaded lay control, and the laity desired 
to retain all the liberty that they might possess. 



182 CHURCH LIFE 

The Establisliment with all its great advantages 
for the time, had also its heavy drawbacks, and 
its vigor of action for good was. always depressed. 
The church was in many things the victim of the 
peculiar circumstances of the day, both in its 
corporate aims and purposes, and in the condition 
of its children; and we are judging it now out of the 
happier circumstances of our time. It should 
have risen above its surroundings and vindicated 
in the midst of a naughty world its mission from 
its Lord. But alas! where is there one of us now 
that would like to have that judgment passed 
upon himself'^ for we are all victims of the day 
in which we exist. 

As we have seen, the state of secular matters 
in Maryland always had a large influence upon 
the church, chiefly because all the great questions 
that agitated the colony grew out of the relations 
between the proprietary and the people, and that 
in such questions the sympathy of the clergy was 
far more apt to be on the side of the x)roprietary. 
They were generally the supporters of his pre- 
rogative. And this they were, not only because 
they were foreign born and educated, and because 
their church government involved the principle 
of prerogative, (though many among them from 
the Scotch universities were deeply tinctured 
with Presbyterianism, says one of that day); yet, 
doubtless, also, for the more evident reason that 
the proprietary, whose income w^as not affected 
by the forty pounds per poll, was more certain to 
be their friend, than the people who paid the 
tax. In some measure also the clergy were under 
the patronage of the Lord Baron, as they were given 
their cures by him or his deputy, and many were 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND 183 

the kind speeches he made them from time to 
time. 

We have seen the troubles to which the clergy 
were subjected previous to the year 1732 when 
peace was attained between his Lordship and 
the colonists ; and from that time the colony was 
in comparative quiet for several years. The 
church also enjoyed the benefit of this, and the 
records show less disturbance than, may be, at 
any other period during the Establishment. The 
truce lasted, however, only until the year 1739, 
when jealousy of the people for their rights as 
against the presumption of the x)roprietary, once 
more broke out. The question this time was not 
about the extension of English statutes, but 
about the proprietary's revenue, a matter that 
aroused as much interest and excitement as the 
other had done. Nor was it a question only of 
revenue, but of his lordship's rights to revenue ; 
the people showing a willingness to submit to an 
imposition, but insisting that it should be 
applied in a different manner. And this agita- 
tion lasted as long as the colony lasted, and was 
in fact very nearly allied to that which finally 
brought about the great disruption, the question 
of taxation by prerogative, and not by the laws of 
the people. The governor and council were able 
to thwart the will of the lower house, which had 
to content itself with occasional measures of 
rejDrisal and with the repeated passage of strong 
resolutions. 

And what was the effect of this upon the 
church ? The Establishment was not in any way 
threatened, as it had been in the earlier agitation, 
probably because it had been found too strongly 



184 CHUBCH LIFE 

established in the hearts of the people to justify 
at present a second attempt. But we find the 
old charges renewed against the clergy, and we 
find that loss of influence which is inij)lied in the 
prevalence of infldelity and in the rise of new 
sects so strongly complained of. We also And 
the old feeling of antagonism renewed in the 
passage again of the act of 1730 affecting their 
salaries. This was done in 1747, and probably, 
nothing can show more strongly the condition of 
the clergy's minds with respect to the people, 
than the fact that they were quiescent in the face 
of this legislation, feeling doubtless that any 
agitation on their part would be without satis- 
factory result. 

It was a time of radical disintegation ; for the 
proprietary and his deputy in the colony, were 
the only ones that in any way exercised any 
control over the church . There was no commissary 
for the previous one had relinquished his office ; 
the diocesan of the colonies did not utter a word, 
for it would have been, as to authority, but a 
sound; the proprietary was jealous of ^his rights, 
and maintained with consistency his control over 
ecclesiastical affairs, which the law and his 
charter gave him. Uafortunately, however, 
his character was not high, and though he could 
speak with kindness of the clergy, he could 
watch that in no way they should add to the 
difficulties that disturbed his province. In all 
things else their condition was satisfactory. 
Their income w^as abundant, and they were pro- 
tected against any encroachment upon their 
rights and privileges. In fact the governor, 
through most of this period, Mr. Sam. Ogle, 



/iY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 185 

seems to have been well disposed towards the 
cliurch and clergy, doing sometimes tlie nnwonted 
tiling of refusing to place in the care of parishes 
those whom he had reason to believe were un- 
worthy. The form of his letter of induction, 
also, differing so materially from that of his 
predecessors, would indicate a certain preposes- 
sion in favor of the clergy, and a desire to do 
them all the honor possible, and maintain their 
rights in their cures. This form will hereafter be 
given. The clergy' s income was generally ample, 
averaging in 1741, according to one of their own 
number, about two hundred pounds sterling. As 
many of them had glebes also, they could live in 
great comfort, for without land to supply a large 
part of the necessaries for the household, living 
was very expensive in Maryland. At this time, 
1741, there were thirty-eight parishes or more 
in the colony, and the ministerial sux3ply was 
generally abundant. ISJ'ot all, however, were 
rectors, but some were called in only in emergen- 
cies or to serve during a temporary vacancy. In 
1748 the population of the colony was reported 
as being ninety-four thousand whites and thirty- 
six thousand blacks. Some few of these last 
were communicants. As in 1722 the number of 
communicants was estimated at three thousand, 
the strong propability is that the church' s com- 
parative strength in 1748 was as great as it is at 
this time. What the increase was from 1722 to 
1748 we do not know, but there is no reason why 
it should not have been equal relatively to the 
increase in poiDulation. Efforts doubtless still 
continued for the amelioration of the negro slaves, 
but as the slave trade constantly poured a great 



186 CHURCH LIFE 

number into the colony, their improvement was 
as constantly retarded. Maryland always, how- 
ever, felt her obligations to this class, and the 
influence of her orderly ways is still manifest in 
those who were formerly the servants of church 
people. From the present outlook, however, we 
can only fear, that for generations our power for 
more direct good is gone. 



Ili COLONIAL MARYLAND. 187 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PARISH. 

The affairs of the parish throw some light upon 
the experience of the church in the colony at 
this time. The last mention of Mr. Tustian, as 
attending the meetings of the vestry, was on 
Aprit 10th 1732, though evidently for some 
reason he regarded himself as rector until two 
years afterwards, and insisted, apparently, on 
receiving the income of the parish until his 
successor was inducted. The merits of his diffi- 
•culty we do not know, nor the ground of his 
plea. We find, however, that he showed wonder- 
ful persistency, being convinced of the rightful- 
ness of his cause; and that in carrying the case 
from court fo court, and finally by appeal to Eng- 
land, he gave the vestry a great deal of trouble. 
The case was probably a notable one at the time. 
The vestry's counsel were Mr. Philip Key, Mr. 
Daniel Dulany, and Mr. Gumming. The Rev. 
Mr. Chase was security for Mr. Tustian, and 
in 1738 we find the vestry ordering that he be 
called on to meet the costs of the case, which, 
however, he refused to do. Mr. Tustian retained 
possession of parish property as long as j)ossible, 
for in June 1734 we find the vestry ordering the 



188 CHURCH LIFE 

cliurcli wardens to go to Mr. Henderson, his 
attorney in fact, and demand tlie surrender of 
the church library. AVhether he prosecuted 
the case in England we do not know. The vestry 
immediately engaged a solicitor in London, but 
from some slight evidence it would appear that 
the case never came up. 

Mr. Tustian's successor was the Rev. John 
Lang, a gentleman that had formerly been in 
Virginia, though he had now been in Maryland 
for some years, having preached the Visitation 
Sermon in Christ Church, Kent Island in 1730, 
being at that time rector of St. Luke's Parish, 
Queen Anne's County. As we can say of the two 
preceding rectors, he was a man of strong char- 
acter, and commanded respect for his intelligence; 
while at the same time, as the records evidence, 
he was a man of amiability, and though afflicted 
with troubles, yet he loved peace and the quiet- 
ness of his cure. 

His letter of indiiction bears the date of May 
24th 173 . One year of the two since Mr. Tustian 
disappeared from the parish, the church was 
ministered to by the Rev. John Urquhart, possi- 
bly engaged by the vestry, as they issued to him 
a certificate of service rendered. How it was 
provided for in spiritual matters during the other 
year we do not know. Mr. Lang's letter from 
the Governor is very peculiar, differing in some 
respects radically from the earlier forms. They 
had been addressed to the gentlemen of the 
vestry, who, however, were commanded to receive 
the bearer. This is directed to the minister 
himself, and reads thus: 

Sam. Ogle Esq, Governor and Commander-in- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 189 

Cliief in and over the province of Maryland, to 
the Rev. John Lang, sendeth greeting: 

I do hereby constitute and appoint you to be 
rector of the Church of St. James in Ann Arundel 
County, to have, hold, and enjoy the said church 
together with all the rights, profits, and advan- 
tages whatsoever, apx^ertaining to a minister of 
the said parish: and I do hereby require the 
church wardens, vestrymen, and all other the 
IDarishoners of the said parish, to receive, 
acknowledge, and assist you, the said John Lang, 
in all matters relating to the discharge of your 
function. 

Given at Annapolis the twenty-fourth day of 
May in the twentieth year of his Lordship's 
dominion. Anno Domini, 1734. 

Sam. Ogle, 

J. Ross, CI. Con. 

What created this change in the form of the 
letter we cannot be certain of. It would apjDear 
that there was no set form up to this time but 
that it depended on the will or wisdom of the 
Governor for the time being. After the present 
occasion, however, we find this form used, not 
only by Gov. Ogle, but also by his successor 
Gov. Sharpe, and as but a short time before 
Lord Baltimore had been in the province, it is 
likely that the new letter was appointed by him. 
Another thing to be noted is that he does not 
mention the Bishop of London who was formerly 
recognized as sending clergy into the colonies, nor 
the king, the date of whose reign was formerly 
given. It is made plainly evident that it is his, 
the iDroprietary' s act, by his deputy, and it is the 
assertion of his own independent prerogative. 



190 CHURCH LIFE 

This was his right under both the law and liis 
charter. Also just before this he had passed 
through that long contention with the colonists 
about the extension of the English statutes to 
Maryland, a matter involving his rights and prero- 
gatives over the people, and this letter was only, it 
is probable, incidental to and a symptom of his 
sensitiveness about his exclusive privileges. For 
as noted above, the letter is addressed to the 
minister, "I do hereby constitute and appoint 
you." and "I do hereby require the church 
wardens, vestrymen, and all other jjarishioners ta 
receive, acknowledge and assist you." Claims 
could hardly have gone further, and want of 
consideration for the vestry could hardly have 
been more strongly exj)ressed. Lord Baltimore 
was jealous of his prerogative, and afterwards he 
and the Bishop of London came to an open 
rupture, and the Bishoii could accomx)lish 
nothing. Also he expressed himself strongly as 
the friend of the clergy, and he did indeed show 
a willingness to help them. How far his friend- 
ship was part of a scheme to maintain his 
authority we do not know, but we do know his 
private life proves that it was not the love of 
religion that made him the clergy's friend. 
Gov. Ogle who signed the letter, was a friend to 
the church, and sought to prevent evil men from 
entering uxx)n the cure of souls. Nothing, 
however, indicates more clearly how widely 
removed we are from those days, how the feel- 
ings of the people and the spirit of our adminis- 
tration have changed. It is imx)ossible for us to 
conceive of a vestry receiving at the hands of the 
secular X30wer any one without question, whom it 



IN COLONIAL MABYLAND. 191 

might choose to give a letter to, with order and 
command that they should extend to the bearer, 
not only his vested rights, but everything that 
might assist the functions of his office. But 
such was done then, and not only so, but the 
vestrymen were very earnest and faithful gener- 
ally in the performance of their duties, submiting 
quietly as if the thing were exactly as it should 
be. They grew restive under this system after a 
few years, and sought to do their own appointing 
but for a long while they were faithful, attentive 
and laborious in performing their duties, equal 
in every way to many vestries under our freer 
and better order. 

These days were not quiet ones in the parish, 
but for the first eight years of Mr. Lang's rector- 
shii3 there was a good deal to irritate. We have 
seen Mr. Tustian's suit, and out of it grew an- 
other, which being with the rector in charge, 
must have created a good deal more feeling ; at 
one time the excitement being so strong that a 
vestryman refused to attend a meeting of the- 
vestry in the parsonage, the rector being ill, when 
business of great moment was to be considered. 
The occasion of Mr. Lang' s difficulty, was that at 
that time the vestry had a large amount of 
tobacco to its credit, which it was lending out, 
advertising for borrowers at the then legal rate of 
eight per cent. ; and that Mr. Lang took over ten 
thousand pounds of this in the year 1735. The 
vestry generally required a heavy bond for double 
the amount of their loans, and well secured; but 
in Mr. Lang's case that was not given. Thus the 
matter ran on for some years until 1741, when 
the vestry made a formal demand for x)rincipal 



192 CHURCH LIFE 

and interest, amounting in all to about fourteen 
thousand i^ounds. This Mr. Lang refused to 
pay, on the ground that he had become, at the 
request of the vestry as their agent, responsible 
in the suit of Mr. Tustian for costs, should the 
appeal go against the vestry in London ; and also 
for any charges that might arise from the em- 
ployment of the agent in London, which they had 
authorized him to do ; and that he could not in 
justice be called on to jmy the amount of their 
claim until there was reasonable certainty that 
he was not in danger from this cause. The vestry, 
however, did not admit the plea, and threaten- 
ed suit, which apijarently was instituted. In 
the mean time the trouble thickened. Mr. Dan. 
Dulany was Mr. Lang's counsel, and by his 
instruction, Mr. Lang refused to let the vestry 
have the key to the vestry house where the 
library was, which they were required by law to 
insx)ect ; and also afterwards he refused them 
access to the vestry books they being in his 
possession. He also refused to attend vestry 
meetings. The case continued till October, 1742, 
when we have the following interlocutory judg- 
ment : By the Governor and council, 7rh October, 
1742. 

Vestry of St. James x^arish: — Upon considering 
the petition and answer and what has been 
alleged on each side ; this boai'd judging that 
some other expedient than a decision on the 
point in question might be more likely to recon- 
cile the incumbent and vestry ; they for that 
purpose think proper to recommend to the vestry, 
as it is really a matter of justice and compassion, 
to make Mr. Lang a reasonable satisfaction for 



Z/Y COLONIAL MARYLAND. 193 

what lie has expended, or is liable to pay, on 
acconnt of any such buildings and improvements 
as he has made on the glebe, and which might 
be necessary and convenient for the incumbent 
to have ; Mr. Lang giving sufficient security to 
indemnify the vestry for any tobaccos allowed 
him, and that whatever tobacco (if any) Mr. Lang 
has actually received from the vestry out of the 
tobacco in dispute to be deemed a part of what 
shall be allowed to him. 

JoHX Ross, Clerk. 

Mr. Lang accepted this judgment for his part, 
and on Sunday gave notice to the vestry to meet 
him the following day. This they did, and in 
due time a settlement was finally reached which 
seems to have been satisfactory to all parties. 
The course of the i)roceeding seems to have been, 
lirst a prosecution of Mr. Lang for the amount of 
tobacco loaned him, and then a counter suit by 
him for imi^rovements made upon the glebe. 
The agreement at last reached, carried both 
13oints, and ever afterwards Mr. Lang's residence 
was sx^ent in peace. His lirst plea about his 
liabilities in their behalf in London seems to 
have been withdrawn. 

The large amount of tobacco the vestry were 
handling at this time, was probably the accumu- 
lation of the years of the interregnum after the 
withdrawal of Mr. Tustian. For by the law the 
tax was always collected, and the amount, when 
there was no demand for it to pay the incumbent, 
was to be used by the vestry for the building and 
rei3airing of churches and the buying and stock- 
ing of glebes. Li 1740 one joerson stood indebted 
to the parish for forty-live thousand pounds. 



194 CHURCH LIFE 

It is certain that already before tliis time the 
rectory had been built, though not many years 
Ibefore, as Mr. Tustian had reported that there 
was no house on the glebe. Mr. Lang's use of 
the money that came into his hand was evidently 
for a legitimate object, though he had not the 
authority to so aj)ply it. The currency, while it 
lasted, was a great burden to the vestry, being 
difficult of recovery when loaned out. What 
finally became of it is not known. What sur- 
prises us is, that even with this large amount on 
hand the vestry from year to year petitioned for 
various sums for defraying the current expenses 
of the church, and their petition w^as granted. 
The vestry were the more reckless about suits pro- 
bably because they personally were protected, 
and even their private expenses paid while 
attending upon the cases. The governor and 
council, often having had their attention drawn 
to the matter, as above seen, evidently felt that 
there Avas need of an examination, and so ordered 
the vestry of St. James' to return to them the 
amount of assessments and other sums received 
within the last ten years since 1732. This they 
had a right to do, and evidently at times there 
was need of such scrutiny. The vestry imme- 
diately required their register to make out such 
an account and forward it. 

How far the offertory was observed in those 
days we are not told, though there can be 
scarcely a doubt that the offering on Communion 
Sunday was the only one made. That there was 
one then is evident from the fact that the alms 
bason was presented by Mr. Hall for "ye perpet- 
uall use." No demands were made on the 



Ili COLONIAL MARYLAND. 195 

j)eople excejDt by the sheriff. Private gifts were, 
however, made; for at this time, as was done in 
the previous period, we find a gift of a handsome 
baptismal bowl provided for as a legacy. Another 
source of revenue was the fines laid on absent 
vestrymen, though these were not very numerous. 
The amount in each case was one hundred 
pounds of tobacco, recoverable in the County 
Court. Altogether the tone does not seem to 
have been so high as it had been, either because 
of the jarrings of the time and the restiveness of 
the people against Lord Baltimore's high 
assumptions, or because of the parish difficulties 
and irritation against their pastors. Mr. Lang 
was a man of peace and sought "to prevent 
future janglings and disputes" by a measure of 
conciliation. Also he was not a self-seeking 
man, as he was desirious of renting "Wrighton" 
on terms that would cut him off from all revenue, 
proposing that it should be rented for twenty-one 
years for the consideration that certain imx)rove- 
ments should be made ui3on it. This was not 
accepted by the vestry, who required an imme- 
diate revenue. 

But the authorities of the parish had not only 
tobacco to manage, and to turn over their capital 
from year to year at a heavy rate of interest ; 
though in 1742 the rate was reduced one-half. 
They were a vestry for other things as well, for 
we find them at their old functions of endeavor- 
ing to restrain the immoral and to preserve the 
proprieties of life in the parish. The sin Avhich 
was at one time common, when children, the 
fruit of unlawful miscegenation, were with both 
parents, the negro and the white, sold into 



196 GHURGH LIFE 

slavery, seems now to have been abated, the 
lowest classes apparently being lifted above that 
degree of degradation. There was, however, 
much cohabiting, and the vestry had occasion 
frequently to sit as a court for the trial of such 
persons. Their power did not extend beyond 
the admonishing of the culprits to separate. On 
one occasion we find them demanding of a man 
that he come forward and show his marriage 
certificate, and once we find the husband com- 
plaining of the bad conduct of his wife and her 
unlawful relations with some one else. In this 
way the vestry became a threat to evil doers, 
and doubtless in a large degree very often 
restrained men from open sin. The church also 
was regarded as the law's bulwark against a 
certain class of misdemeanors; for according to 
the law of 1723 not only was the minister com- 
pelled to read the ordinance against blasj^hemy, 
swearing, sabbath brea^iing, drunkenness and 
selling liquor on Sunday, but the swearing 
became a misdemeanor when it was done in the 
jjresence of a vestryman, church warden, and 
other persons named. It is to be hoped that the 
vestrymen and wardens were always so circum- 
spect as not to render themselves liable to 
whipping poist or stocks by swearing in their 
own presence. This was the punishment meted 
out, the offender not being a reputable person. 
In 1747 the vestry had both those instruments 
of shame and pain erected, evidently, near or at 
the church, for the order forNfhem is given, with- 
out mention of places, along with an order for a 
church door, seats in the porch and church yard, 
and horse blocks. They were evidently regarded 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 197 

as a convenient and helpful provision for cliurcli 
discipline. We see later how on one occasion 
they were nsed. 

The vestry of course had the power of protect- 
ing the congregation in the time of worship, a 
power we find them exercising January 4th 1737 
when the following order was passed : 

'^Whereas, sundry x^ersons in the tim.e of Divine 
service make a constant practice of running in 
and out of the church to the fire in the vestry 
house, to the great disturbance of the rest of the 
congregation; for prevention whereof for the 
future this vestry have ordered the sexton that 
before he tolls the bell he lock the vestry house 
door, and desire all persons to go out; and if any 
person refuse the sexton is ordered immediately 
to acquaint the church wardens therewith, avIio 
are ordered to do their duty by requiring all dis- 
orderly persons either to better behave themselves 
or depart from the church." This, it will be 
observed, was passed in mid- winter, and the 
reason why persons were so keenly anxioiis to go 
to the vestry house was, that there was no hre in 
the church,*^ while a great glorious hre was roar- 
ing itself away in the vestry house chimney. 
They had evidently a keen regard to the propri- 
eties of the house of God, and would not have 
the hour of worship disturbed. They were evi- 
dently a sturdy race, look at them as we will, 
wdiether as to religious earnestness or to physical 
endurance. There are a good many congrega- 
tions now for whom it would be well if those old 
men could come forward and prescribe. 

But it was not only in mid- winter they had 
trouble. We find in June 1747, a kindred evil 



198 CHURCH LIFE 

harassing their patient souls, and again we see 
the wardens, as officers of the peace, ordered to 
do their duty. This order was passed at that 
time: "That the church wardens do prevent the 
negroes from going in among the white jDeople to 
disturb them, as frequently they have done, and 
to prevent their going in and out of the church 
in time of Divine service, as they often make a 
practice of it." This is interesting as showing 
the colored people less under restraint than we 
could well have imagined them to be. They 
were at church and attended Divine service, but 
as they are to this day, they found themselves 
unable to sit still. And not only in church, but 
outside also, we iind them moving about freely, 
going in and out among the white people, their 
masters, who were standing or sitting about in 
the church yard. Evidently also it was not one 
or two who did this, or only occasionally, for 
that would hardly have called for the vestry's 
action; nor were they moving about as servants 
to obey some order; bat it was of their own free 
will, in numbers, frequently. This is an unex- 
pected picture of old Maryland life, a degree of 
simplicity that we do not find now. For first 
the negro seldom or never comes to the white 
man's church, but has, because there only he 
feels free, a church of his own. Or if he should 
come, he would not be found moving about 
among the whites, but the few present would be 
off in a place to themselves, or perched upon the 
church fence; and they would file into the church 
after the white peoj)le were in. The relations of 
servant and master then were evidently not very 
rigid and stern; and while subserviency was 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 199> 

demanded, and every order Avas necessarily- 
obeyed, the relation was rather patriarchaL 
There were communicants of the church among 
the people of that race throughout all that period 
and ever since. In fact the kindly feelings that 
are still mutually entertained between the negro 
and the white man, bespeak the generous rela- 
tions in Maryland of that institution. 

But while the vestry possessed such functions, 
and were thus a power in the land in many ways 
for good, and doubtless at that time, of very 
great value for the moral welfare of the commu- 
nity, they Avere not allowed to feel themselves: 
above authority in anything, but were required 
to recognize the administrative officers of the 
province. Thus we have seen how on more than 
one occasion they were called on to return an- 
account of revenue received and how it was dis- 
bursed. On another occasion we find them com- 
pelled to apply for authority from the Assembly 
to lease a given piece of proj^erty, called AYrigh- 
ton. This was a legacy to the parish for the 
benefit of the minister, and it seems always from 
its great remoteness from the church, to have- 
yielded but a small revenue. Afterwards it was 
very much neglected, so that in 1744 it seems to 
have been destitute of many necessary things. 
The Assembly passed an act empowering the 
vestry to lease for twenty-one years, and Mr. 
Lang, the incumbent, showed his generosity in 
proi^osing terms that w^ould ultimately benefit 
the parish minister, but be of no immediate good 
to him, and probably never of any benelit. 

Why an application for an act of Assembly 
should have been made, is not evident: for the 



200 CHURCH LIFE 

property had come to the vestry without other 
condition than that it was for the use of the 
minister of the parish, and apx^arently they 
woukl have the ability to rent it in any way or 
any terms they might think proper. It may be 
that the vestry of St. James' found itself' not 
entirely trusted, and so feared to act on its own 
judgement. This one thing, however, is evident, 
the interests of the clergy were looked to not- 
withstanding the wrangling of the times. Their 
standing in every way in Maryland was one of 
independence and honor; their position was 
impregnable and their interests in every waj^ 
duly cared for. The second clause of Mr. Ter- 
rett's will, dated 1693, reads as follows: "I give 
and bequeath unto my son, Nicholas Terrett, my 
great Bible and two negro slaves, to be between 
fifteen and thirty years of age, to be delivered 
when he becomes of age." Ihe old gentlemen 
had very evidently a clear apprehension of what 
constituted the wealth of both worlds, though 
some would now say that he did not discern so 
clearly the due proportion of things wdien he 
transferred to his son the covenant of his own 
freedom and the bond of his fellowman's slavery. 
But these are modern notions, and the world then 
from the beginning had believed the old gentle- 
man to be right. 

To scan the church at this time, 1748, would in 
no way afflict one with pain; though it is true 
that tiie early glow of affection and devotion for 
it would seem to have paled somewhat; for the 
gifts that had at one time been frequent, seem 
now to have ceased. The church had gotten into 
a groove, and working as an institution, and the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 201 

spontaneonsness of early relations had ceased. 
Tliere had been too much discussion about 
salaries, too much agitation of the forty pounds 
poll, a question that was at this time affecting 
the minds of the people. The clergy had had too 
much to do in the battling for what they esteemed 
their own. The church, also, as represented by 
the clergy, had been too much recognized as 
a distinct power in matters political, and that not 
in harmony with the great will and growing con- 
victions of the people. Consequen'tly spontan- 
eousness had ceased as an expression of church 
life; but on the other hand regularity and order 
were eminent. The church was duly cared for in 
€very way. The officers were required to do 
their duty. The building was kept in the best 
possible condition and the proprieties duly 
observed during holy worship. The ordinances 
were regularly administered and the young 
jDeople as they reached the years of discretion, 
w^ere admitted to the Holy C'ommunion. Suffi- 
cient authority was committed to the vestries to 
make them diligent, and the many difherent 
offices they had to perform in their two-fold 
capacity of church and civil officers, constrained 
their attention. Also the requirement of the law 
that they should meet at a given time every month 
with or without notice from the minister, though 
it is true the law does not seem always to have 
been faithfully observed, saved the parish from 
that indifference and neglect that is the sole cause 
of the poverty of so many ]Darishes of Maryland 
to day. For in many places the vestry meets but 
onci a year, at Easter, and frequently to perform 
only certain routine duties. But such was not the 



202 CHURCH LIFE 

case tlien, but eight good men, vestry and wardens^ 
were compelled, under ]3enalty, to meet, and talk, 
and tliink ovel* cliurcli matters, and the law provi- 
ded sufficient funds for every purpose. Therefore, 
though the earlier youthfulness was gone, order, 
regularity and propriety were in all ways fostered. 
That, with a sound gosx:)el preached, as doubt- 
less it was, in the forty or fifty pulpits of the 
colony; and with the worthy lives of the clergy, 
(as the great body were worthy), who went in 
and out among the people, gave to Maryland 
religion a character which no voluntary organi- 
zation could have done. 

Mr. Lang ended his ministry the twenty- sixth 
of September, 1748, having been rector of the 
parish fourteen years, not an unusual length of 
time in those days; for then there was no getting 
rid of a minister if he wanted to stay; while for 
him the facilities for change did not exist, the 
whole matter being determined by one man, the 
Governor. Besides, St. James was a good parish 
in the light of its revenue, as doubtless in every 
other light; for in 174S there were one thousand 
taxables, which at forty pounds per poll would 
have yielded at least eight hundred dollars. 
This with the two glebes, was all that was neces- 
sary for comfort, even with the high price of 
everything that was imported. The peoj^le soon 
felt the loss of their regular church ministrations, 
and November 1st jDetitioned the Governor for a 
successor to Mr. Lang. This was answered 
February 23rd of the following year by the 
presentation of Mr. Charles Lake to the rector- 
ship. *' 

An inspection of the library at this time 



IJ^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 20a 

showed that some of the books were missing, 
having been loaned out to persons in the X3arish. 
The following plate and other articles were 
delivered up by Mrs. Lang: '^One silver llaggon, 
one silver cup, one silver dish, and one silver 
salver, two surplices, one Damask table cloth, 
and one Damask napkin," and it was "ordered 
that William Journey, sexton, carry the above 
plate and linnen to Mr. Nath. Dare, Church- 
warden, to take care of the same, and that Mr. 
Lewis Lewin, one of the vestrymen, go along 
with him to see it delivered." That is the way 
things w^ere done. Also, at this time we read: 
"Oct. 4th 1748, came before me. the subscriber, 
one of his Lordship's Justices of the Provincial 
Court of Maryland, the several i:>ersons under- 
noted, being all vestrymen and church wardens 
of St. James' Parish, and took the oath on the 
Holy Evangely of Almighty God according to 
the directions of the act of Assembly jDassed in 
the year 1748, in order to qualify them for the 
choice of the inspectors in the sd parish." 

John Darnall. 
We may not like the flavor of the times, but it 
is only because we have been fed on diffierent 
diet. 



■^04 CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE FOURTH RECTORSHIP. 

The period to wliicli we liave come, the fourth 
rectorship of the parish of St. James, beginning 
with the year 1749, and reaching to 1763, was in 
many respects one of great activity, not so much 
in ecclesiastical matters indeed, as in civil 
concerns, both in the colonies and in Europe. 
How closely, hoAvever, ecclesiastical and civil 
concerns were united at this time, how much 
stronger a hold the cliurch had upon men's 
minds and filled their thoughts, then than now, 
is evidenced in the great seven years' war that 
began in 1755. For during that struggle, which 
had no more to do with religion than the more 
recent wars between Prussia and Austria, or 
Prussia and France, prayers were offered up here 
in America for Frederick as the great champion 
of Protestant Christendom ; while the Pope 
celebrated Austrian victories as upholding the 
great cause of his church. It was indeed a 
great contest between Protestant and Roman 
civilizations, an expression of the inherent anta- 
gonism which the two systems embodied, a 
reproduction, after more than a hundred years, 
of what had been expressed with so much greater 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 20-1 

vividness in the thirty year's war. But Frecler 
ick of Prussia was not one to expend tlie 
resources of liis dominions in defence of Cliris- 
tianity. He was not a second Gustavus Adolplius. 
!N"or was England at all at that time enthusiastic 
for the faith. Nor on the parties on the other 
side can a higher eulogium be passed. It was 
something far nearer to their x^i'esent interests 
that moved them, the glory and dominion of this 
world. Still the great struggle was made to 
wear that asjject of religion, and for both parties 
prayers ascended to heaven from those whose 
minds were deeply impregnated with the thonght 
of the great cause. 

Associated with this war in Euro^^e was the 
French war waged by the colonies in America, 
a war that was momentous in its influences upon 
the future of the colonies ; for it was by the 
fruits of it and the destruction of the French 
power in America, that the colonies, being rid of 
this threatening neighbor, were enabled to 
assume such a pronounced position towards the 
mother country. It will be remembered that 
this position was assumed very soon after the 
close of the French war in the discussions that 
preceded, and the vigorous measures that f ollow^ed 
the passage of the stamj) act. The whole period, 
how^ever, was full of jealousy, the colonists 
always proceeding as far as they dared in antag- 
onizing the will of the home administration. 
Nor w^as the jealousy only on the one side, for 
there was constant fear of the colonies as well, 
and everything was avoided that could in any way 
foster the spirit of independence. In this tem]3er 
we find the mother country acting when Seeker, 



^06 CHURCH LIFE 

Arclibisliop of Canterbury, who was translated 
to that see in 1758, attempted to send out bishops 
to the colonies. It is true a large part of the 
oi^position is attributable to the very low estimate 
that was made of the clerical office and even of 
episcoi3al dignity. For the episcopate had come 
to be regarded as merely a means of rewarding 
some minister whose services had pleased or 
been useful to the state. The grand thought of 
its true functions before Christ Jesus, was lost 
sight of. But Archbishop Seeker's attem]3t was 
reprobated in the strongest terms. The clergy 
for America must be sent from England, Ameri- 
ca must be kept in this way, as in all others, 
dependent. So there was an " enormous outcry." 
One bishop declared "that the authors of this 
attempt ought to be covered with contrition and 
confusion"; and an archdeacon described it "as 
a mere empty chimerical vision, which deserves 
not the least regard." The matter, therefore, as 
so many times before, came to nought. Unfor- 
tunately there was nearly as much opposition to 
the scheme in all parts of America as there was 
in England. For if England dreaded to have the 
colonies indei^endent in anything, the colonies 
equally dreaded to have an institution set up 
such as they knew the English episcopate then 
to be, and such as tradition had represented it, 
without iDractical force for the church' s good, and 
and yet endowed with extensive ^prerogatives. 
America, therefore, continued to be dej^endent, 
but the only effect was, that, not having a native 
clergy, the ministers had no weight with the 
peoi3le in the great measures and ideas that were 
more and more engrossing the i^opular mind; and 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 207 

wlien the time came for acting they were cast 
ed off as having no living connection with the 
body politic. In the meanwhile they were on all 
sides suspected and subjected often to harsh 
treatment. 

Along with the French war there are various 
things brought to the surface in Maryland that 
are at any rate interesting and that throw light 
upon the life of those times. It was begun in 
America before it began in Europe, and in 1754, 
Maryland, by a supply bill, made provision for 
her share of the expenses. Again, in 1756, she 
attempted the same, but as it happened she did 
nothing, not because she was not willing, but 
because of that inherent jealousy on the part of 
the people, as represented in the lower house of 
the Assembly, against the xjretensions of the 
Governor and the u^^per house. As there was 
no great urgency, and as neither party could lose 
by the struggle, there was the greater willingness 
to keep uj) the contest. 

One of the matters was the question of taxing 
convicts brought into the colony. For, most un- 
fortunately, for many years there were very 
many of these brought in, at the rate of four to 
six hundred annually, a terrible class to turn 
loose upon a community, as jeopardizing both 
life and property, and having a most baneful 
influence upon the morals of the people. Though 
as the gallows were in such constant demand in 
England, it was hardly as bad as we should And 
it now. The proprietary claimed the right to tax 
this class of immigrants, the tax being laid on 
those that brought them over; while the lower 
house claimed the right to tax as their preroga- 



208 CHURCH LIFE 

tive, asserting tliat sn ch came under the head of 
servants, and that they had always, from the 
days when Maryland was a royal x)rovince, exer- 
cised this right. We have seen this wdien they 
taxed Irish servants coming in, ' ' to prevent the 
growth of Papacy." The revenue to be by this 
means received, was to provide a sinking fund to 
meet the supx)ly bill. With such a class precipi- 
tated upon the colony in spite of frequent and 
bitter protest, we cannot be surprised at the 
severe laws that were sometimes passed. It w^as 
estimated that from 1715 to 1763 there were from 
lifteen to twenty thousand such persons brought 
into the province. It is to be said that some of 
these were sent over for very slight offences ; and 
that among them Maryland received some of her 
most skillful artisans, elegant mansions in and 
around Annapolis having been built or adorned 
by their hands. 

Another matter connected wdth the supply bill 
and the tax levied to provide for it, though this 
bill was never passed, Avas the amount to be laid 
upon non- jurors or Papists. This item shows 
the animus of the times, and that very much of 
the old feeling against the members of this 
church still continued. As we have seen, the 
the w^ar that was raging in Europe, the fringes of 
of whose strife touched America, and were the 
cause of the supply bill being called for, wore in 
the minds of many, a semi-religious aspect, both 
Pope and Protestant praying for the respective 
sides. This may have been in some measure the 
cause of the proposed legislation against the 
members of the Roman Communion, though it is 
also said that ill will for certain favorites of the 



J]^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 201* 

proprietary intiuenced the minds of the members 
of the lower house. It is hardly possible, how- 
ever, that so large a section of the people should 
have been treated so unjustly merely to gratify a 
little private animosity. The Roman church 
was still an object of dread and of dislike, and 
because certain members enjoyed positions of 
honor or emolument the general feeling of antag- 
onism was very strongly expressed. 

The j)i'<^>posed law discriminated against the 
Roman Catholic so far as to lay a double tax. 
upon him, and as the tax was a very general one, 
covering all species of property, real, personal 
and mixed, all debts, and all imported merchan- 
dise, together with incomes, and as the Roman 
Catholics were about one-twelfth of the people 
and many of them were exceedingly wealthy, 
the intended burden would be very great. A. 
vast amount of the old leaven was still amongst 
the peojDle, and the principles of toleration were 
still unknown. Nor was this merely a passing 
lit of spleen; for the bill was passed by the Lower 
House at nine different sessions, showing a set 
purpose. But it never became a law, the Ui:)X)er 
House rejecting the bill every time. They were 
called non-jurors because they would not take 
the oaths necessary for enjoying the rights of 
citizenship. They enjoyed privately the right of 
worship and protection; but as yet they were not 
emancipated, and were looked upon as not beings 
safe as citizens. The oaths at this time exacted 
were exceedingly severe, as we shall hereafter see. 

Another item, provided for in the first supply 
bill, is worthy of a XDassing notice, especially as 
it was associated with the duties of vestries. 



210 CHURCH LIFE 

We liave seen the intention of the law makers, 
that it was to tax everybody and everything, 
and it would seem that they did reach everything 
that could readily be named. One item, however, 
surprises us even in their list, and that is bache- 
lors, for we can not see why a man should be taxed 
for everything he has and then in addition by a 
special provision for that which he has not, the 
best of all possessions, a wife. Nor was it 
exactly a poll tax, for it was rated according to 
income and age, those under twenty-five years 
being exempt, and also those whose income did 
not amount to one hundred pounds per annum. 
Above that age a bachelor w^hose income was one 
hundred i^ounds, had to pay five shillings and 
one with an income of three hundred pounds had 
to pay one pound. Whether also it was regarded 
as a repressive measure we do not know, a nui- 
sance to be abated. But that seems hardly 
likely, as it was immediately associated in the 
category with wines, liquors, and billiard tables; 
by what law of association we cannot say, though 
possibly the law makers could. Of course the 
bachelors paid the tax without protest, which is 
not what the Roman Catholics did, for they i)ro- 
tested very loudly against the proposed unequal 
tax upon them. If the intention of the law Avas 
to make men marry it was not always successful 
by any means, as the lists returned by the ves- 
tries, who were the returning board for this pur- 
pose, show that some bachelors went through the 
whole eight years the tax was collected. The 
tyrannical law of the legislators could not 
deprive them of their liberty. 
The law, however, was not so incongruous to 



/i\^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 3U 

them as it to us, for we find a law advocated in 
England in the time of William III. for the relief 
of his Majesty, by which a tax was proposed on 
''marriages, births and burials, and upon bache- 
lors and widowers for the term of five years," so 
that by it whether you lived or died, married or 
remained single, preserved your blessing of a 
wife or were utterly bereaved, the law would 
reach you. The Maryland proposition was 
merciful beside that. It only taxed bachelors 
along with wines, liquors and billiard tables. 

Among the other immigrants received at this 
time into Maryland, differing from those they 
found there, in race, language and religion, were 
the Canadian French from Acadia. They came 
involuntarily of course, the English having, in the 
beginning of the French war in 1755 pursued 
towards them a most cruel policy. For refusing 
to take the oath of allegiance to the king upon the 
British occupation of their territory they were 
compelled to abandon their pleasant homesteads, 
which were given up to the flames; and taking 
what little was permitted them on shipboard, to 
be scattered everywhere. Some of them even 
reached Louisiana, while the most of them found 
refuge in the English colonies. Maryland 
received some who settled within the j)resent 
limits of Baltimore. Longfellow in Evangeline 
has given immortality to this dark and cruel 
episode of war. 

Looking more narrowly at the church affairs of 
Maryland at this time we do not find things 
wearing an attractive ax)pearance, but rather it 
was a i^eriod of vexation and difficulty. And 
first of all we find a man possessing the privileges 



212 CHURCH LIFE 

of the proprietorshiii of the province, Frederick, 
the seventh Lord Baltimore, who in nothing 
attracts favor, being ignorant, conceited, and 
with an overAveening sense of his own prerogatives. 
Besides, when he succeeded his father in 1751, 
he was yonng, being only twenty years of age. 
He esteemed himself learned, and thought God 
had given him too much genius, expressing a 
wish that his Creator had bestowed less mind 
and more bodily vigor. In addition to these un- 
fortunate qualities he was very immoral, having 
companionship with some of the vilest of the 
land. He was arraigned as a criminal in a very 
extreme case of wickedness and was commonly 
believed to be guilty. It was the misfortune of 
the church that such a man fell upon times when 
the colony was agitated by great questions, and 
when the matter of right and prerogative was 
uppermost. Because of his character, therefore, 
and the authority he wielded over the church, 
the better relations thatexisted between the 
Bishop of London and himself produced very 
little profit to the church. 

Nor were all things favorable in the church 
itself. First of all there was a very numerous 
body of dissenters, Quakers, Presbyterians, 
Roman Catholics, Baptists, Dunkers, Lutherans, 
and doubtless others, who by this time had be- 
come powerful ; and who, with the exception of 
the Roman Catholics, as voters were able to wield 
a large influence. These all of course opposed 
the establishment, looking upon the compulsion 
on them to support it as being an outrage. The 
largest two of these bodies had ever kept up an 
unvarying protest. Associated with these in the 



IJSr COLONIAL MABYLAJSTD. 313 

same cause were all those who were skeptical in 
their views or reckless in their lives ; which was 
also a large class. So that the establishment had 
many enemies ; and that it stood the pressnre as 
it did shows how nnmerous its friends were. 

Unfortunately also the circumstances of the 
church were rather helpful to the malcontents ; 
for there were some men, though, doubtless, 
relatively, but few in number, who were dis- 
honoring their calling as ministers and exiDOsing 
the cause to gross misrepresentation. Governor 
Sharpe tells us of one who "with great difficulty 
escax)ed the fate of a murderer, who received his 
thirty pounds poll while in i)rison." The rule, 
ex uno disce omnes^ however, does not a^iply, for 
beyond all others the clergy were most earnest 
to have these things corrected. Besides, 
instances of shame in all bodies now are too 
numreous to enable us to compare ratios with 
certainty with the men of that day. 

But something that is tangible is given us in 
the statement of Governor Sharpe that the colony 
and the church then were beset with clergymen 
from the Scotch universities, and that the cry 
went u}) that nearly one-half the peox)le were 
"preached to in an unknown tongue." It will 
be remembered that this was not the hrst time 
that such complaint was made. Mr. Wilkinson, 
the commissary for the Eastern shore, as early as 
1718 had written that they did not Avant any 
more of the Scotch clergy, because they were 
" young, raw, undisciplined, tainted with Presby- 
terian principles, and not real friends to Episcopal 
government." And though doubtless some of 
the charges against them were exas'gerated, yet 



314 CHURCH LIFE 

tlie good broad Scotch accent in which they 
rejoiced, together with the abundant antipathy 
of race and kingdom which was prevalent a 
hundred years ago, made them unfit for the 
English parishes in America; for such the 
colonial i)arishes were. There could not be 
much attractiveness in the church, nor much 
enthusiasm for it, in the nearly one-half of the 
parishes where these gentlemen were found. 

But there was a deeper cause than this at 
work. The system itself was wearing out, the 
Establishment was becoming out of harmony 
with the times. American sentiment was grow- 
ing very rapidly, and that sentiment meant 
absolute equality both as to person and property, 
before the law; and of this equality the Establish- 
ment was a curtailment. Other disturbances 
were rather symptons of this deeper disease; 
objections were strongly expressed because there 
was a more or less conscious antagonism to the 
institution itself. 

This growing instability of the Establishment 
was perceived by some of the clergy, who during 
the frequent discusions upon the matter of the 
clerical salaries, were more apprehensive for the 
existence of the law of 1702 than they were about 
their incomes. For the readiness and the facility 
with which the Assembly tamj^ered with one 
section of the law, made them fear that the law 
itself might become a common thing in handling, 
and at last without consideration be cast aside. 
And doubtless there was good reason for just 
that fear. Also, as the records show, there was 
more than one occasion when the validity of the 
law was questioned, and that by eminent legal 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 215 

aiitliorities and professing cliurclimen. The 
tlioaglit was to get rid of what w^as felt to be a 
burden, by that means. That they did not 
attempt a straightforward rex)eal of the law, 
whatever tlie Proprietary might have said in the 
case, is proof that the church was very ck)se to 
the hearts of the largest part of the people. 
That the Pro]3rietary would have resisted such a 
repeal is i)robable, though by no means certain. 
He professed friendship for the church and the 
clergy, but what he cared for chiefly was that 
which ijromoted his own emoluments and pleas- 
ures. 

The question of the poll tax was frequently 
discussed at this time. In 17-i7 the earlier law 
had been reenacted, making one -fourth of the 
amount payable in other produce than tobacco, at 
a fixed rate. This, like many of the colonial 
laws, w^as to continue in force only for a given 
time; the x^eople, not having the right of repeal, 
thus retaining power over the laws in their own 
hands. Again, in 17o8, the law was enacted to 
continue in force hve years. And also again in 
1758 and 1763. On this last occasion the law was 
further modified by making the poll to be thirty 
instead of forty pounds. Though this reduction 
im2:>osed no real burden on the clergy; for owing 
to the great increase in population the salaries 
had generally so advanced as that the incomes 
in some instances were handsome, and in almost 
all parishes good. By this frequent presentation 
of the matter the question of salaries was kept 
alive in the people's minds, and so when any 
delinquency occurred among the clergy the 
matter was known far and wide. Such a case 



:31G CHURCH LIFE 

did occur a little later than our present period 
that shows the sensitiveness of the public 
feeling, and that the abuses of the system of the 
Establishment were working out their natural 
and fatal result. The Rev. i)r. Chandler, of New 
Jersey, distinguished subsequently to this by his 
activity as a champi(m of the church and church 
principles, was on a visit to Maryland, and he 
speaks aboiit a condition of things that was very 
far from pleasing. The trouble Avas in Coventry 
Parish, which it was the desire of the people 
that the Doctor should receive, it being then 
vacant, and application was made to the Gov- 
ernor. Instead, however, of listening to them 
and presenting the man of their choice, wdio was 
also so eminently worthy, and thus pacifying a 
people who had formerly shown a restive spirit; 
l)ossibly for that very reason he chose to ignore 
their desires; and that his lordshix^ s prerogatives 
might be fully vindicated, forced upon the x)arish 
a man whom the peojile knew only too well as 
one wholly unfit for holy fu actions. 

But the i^arishoners rose to the occasion and 
refused to receive the letter of induction offered, 
falling back upon what they esteemed their right 
of presentation. For they argued, that as the 
law was of their passing, and the church was 
sustained by their contributions, however pro- 
vided, the parish was of necessity in their gift. 
Warm and acrimonious w^as the discussion that 
ensued, with even violence threatened, and that 
against the parson. The result was, however, 
that the people had to recede from their extreme 
position, and accept the order of things as it had 
'fceen from the beginning. Mr. Henderson, 



JxY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 217 

formerly commissary, had held the view that the 
Bishop of London had the power to induct. Mr. 
Daniel Dulaney, who was the great legal anthority 
in the colony at this time, as members of the same 
family were through several generations, showed 
that their claim had no ground in law, and that 
over and beyond the privileges that belonged to 
the Proprietary by his charter, the law of 1702 
in plain terms put the right of x^resentation and 
induction in the governor's hands. Out of this 
difficulty there came other changes in the form 
of the letter of induction, as we shall see. It is 
said that this case was carried to England on 
appeal and decided in favor of the parish. 
AVhat effect such a decision might have had does 
not appear, but things went on in this matter as 
they had })een all along. This incident only 
shows that the " troubles of the Establishment 
Avere now thickening, the people restive, the 
proprietary more exacting, and the colonial 
authorities just and honorable, but wanting in 
sympathy. The next ten years were to witness 
the further progress of these symptoms and 
eventuate in the death of the institution. 

One of the instances that x^rove the unfortunate 
position of the church under the ungodly and 
X^resumptuous ProxMetary, was his action in the 
year 17f)4. The clergy had not for years met 
together for conference, whether for mutual 
edification and x^i'otection, or for the x^romotion 
of the general welfare of the church. The gov- 
ernor did not summon them, as had been 
done earlier in the century, nor was there any 
commissary to gather them. Any meeting could 
only be accomx^lished by a common agreement, 



218 CHURCH LIFE 

and tliey reached this in the year 1753. What 
was the occasion of their assembling then we do not 
know; possibly the fnrther consideration at that 
time by the Assembly of the matter of reducing 
their salaries, though there were many things of 
common interest and general moment that they 
might find to discuss amongst themselves, and 
both they and the people would be the better for 
it. But how was their action regarded by his 
lordship'^ He professed a warm interest in both 
the church establishment and the clergy at this 
time. He immediately expressed to his governor 
his will and jDleasure that they should not 
assemble again, and the governor of course 
issued notice of his lordship's desire. Truly we 
are living in diiferent times from those when the 
church of God, as represented in her ministers, 
was subjected to such tyranny, the whim, the 
caprice of a young egotist who had only just 
reached his majority. And this was more than 
twenty years before the end came. That the 
clergy should have felt they were wearing a 
galling yoke could not help but be. The Estab- 
lishment was to them sustained at a heavy cost 
of manhood; while the portents that indicated 
the future deliverance were as yet exceedingly 
indistinct, the cloud not even as large as a man's 
hand. The young administrator of such immense 
estate and weighty duties, may have had kind 
feelings for the church and clergy, but certainly 
he was exceedingly obtuse as to what would 
under the circumstances advance the church's 
best intrests. 

The church, I have said, commanded no 
enthusiasm among the people or with the legis- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 219 

lators now. RaMier it was often jostled in debate 
and many unkind tilings said. On tlie the other 
hand, justice was meted out to it by the Assem- 
bly, and the comeliness of its circumstances was 
cared for by all its children. For we are now in 
the beginning of the period that was distinguished 
by the building of many of those structures that 
have so far withstood successfully the wear and 
tear of time, and will for centuries to come ; 
solid, substantial brick edifices generally, that 
are found in almost all parts of old Maryland. 
Romance or ignorance often makes them to have 
been built long before this, some of them, we are 
told, in 1692, the date when the Act of Establish- 
ment was hrst jiassed. But the records would 
show that most of those now standing were 
erected after the year 1748. And this would be 
probable for another reason, that previous to that 
time the parishes were too feeble, the population 
too sparse to have gone to the great expense 
necessary for such structures, as well as for the 
reason that structures of the size now found were 
not then necessary. 

For it must be remembered how the means 
were provided. The people would first reach the 
conclusion that their church then standing was 
worn out, and no longer able to stand repairs ; or 
that the large increase in numbers demanded more 
ample room ; and most probably both causes would 
be found operating. Then a petition would be 
sent in to the legislature asking that a levy be im- 
posed upon the parish, and this being done, the 
work was entrusted to the builders. The cost of 
such buildings would be from three to six thousand 
dollars, and sometimes probably more ; for some 



220 CHURCH LIFE 

of the edifices are very large and handsome ; 
plain enough as we count plainness, but striking 
memorials of the olden time. And this method 
of raising the means shows us the estimation in 
which the church was held through this troubled 
time. For first, that the people should have been 
content to assume so heavy a burden, proves 
their love and devotion to the church, and that 
the legislature would have been content to 
authorize such a heavy tax when often one-third 
of the residents within the imrish were non- con- 
formists, who could not help but be opposed to 
having their money taken from them for this 
purpose, proves that tlie institution as an estab- 
lishment, was regarded with favor. And a 
blessed thing it was for Maryland after the 
depression of the revolution came on that these 
churches had been built ; for for fifty years after 
that day the ideas and means were both most 
sadly cramped, and destitution would have been 
the result. As it w;as, God in his mercy so pro- 
vided that the church survived, her children 
never wanted a place to assemble in for prayer 
and praise, and when a brighter day did dawn 
she was able again to enter upon a new career of 
prosperity. 

The relative position of the church to the other 
religious bodies in the colony, both as to wealth 
and numbers, is approximately furnished us 
in an incident of the year 1760. There was 
but little intimate intercourse and no organic 
relation between the colonies at this time. There 
was, however, a strong fraternal feeling of sym- 
pathy, which doubtless the instinct of coming 
things strengthened ; so that when in this year 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 221 

there was the great lire in Boston, Maryland was 
ready to extend any aid that might lie in her 
power. Fortunately the Governor issued a call 
for such aid, and the amount received astonishes 
us, remembering that Maryland had no city of 
pretentions save Baltimore and Annapolis, which 
were insignilicant. The amount forwarded to the 
sufferers was over eighteen hundred pounds, be- 
ing contributions in the churches, and of this 
members of the Establishment gave fifteen hun- 
dred pounds. These figures furnish evidence of 
why it was that the Legislature so readily granted 
the petitions for the heavy tax for the erection of 
new churches. The members of the Establish- 
ment were the wealthiest and most numerous in 
the province. 

We have seen that in 1754 it pleased his lord- 
ship, the proprietor, to lay interdict upon the 
clergy, forbidding their coming together for 
conference, which was all that as citizens they 
were capable of doing. But this was not the 
worst evil he now inflicted, for about the same 
time he instructed Governor Sliarpe that X)resen- 
tation to i^arishes should only be by his approval, 
thus taking from the governor an indeiDendence 
of action that sometimes would protect the 
church. The governor was so far stripjDed of 
responsibility, and doubtless degraded in his own 
eyes ; for his lordship might over his cups give 
letters to boon comi)anions, and for Maryland 
there was no deliverance. The old form of 
induction went on for a while, but the lord 
baron was the true x)ower in the land. How far 
he exercised this control, we are not told, but for 
his favorites a x)lace must as soon as possible be 
found. 



233 CHURCH LIFE 

In fact, Maryland was at tliis time an El Dorado 
for the parsons, and sometimes they were waiting, 
so many of them were there in the colony, until 
vacancies might occur. Some of them were 
employed as assistants, for division of parishes 
was greatly opposed by the incumbents, and by 
means of curates the desire of the people was 
sought to be appeased. Chapels of ease also 
were erected in outlying districts, out of which, 
from time to time, new parishes grew, for divisions 
did take place occasionally. There is no reason 
for supposing that the church was a heavy bur- 
den upon its members. Its misfortune was that 
it exacted from those who were unwilling to 
give. But for its members it was not a burden ; 
for they only X3aid according to the males of their 
families and their prolitable servants. The 
churchmen of Maryland to-day, of their own will 
and desire, contribute far more |pr religion than' 
their fathers of those days did. 



/iV COLONIAL MARYLAND. 



CHAPTER Xy. 

THE PAKISH. 

We have seen the urgency of the vestry to 
have their parish immediately provided for. 
Gov. Ogle, in response to their petition, granted 
the Rev. Charles Lake a letter of induction, Feb- 
ruary 23rd, 1748-49, who then began as the 
fourth rector of St. James' parish a ministry that 
reached to the year 1763, maintaining the general 
averageof duration of rectorshij) that had held up 
to that time. Governor Ogle, as far as lay in his 
power, appointed good men to the parishes ; 
though, unfortunately, the condition of things 
was often such that his best intentions were 
neutralized. Mr. Lake, however, as far as 
the record goes, seems to have fullilled his best 
desires ; for, unlike his two immediate i^rede- 
cessors, his ministry in the parish was without 
any occasion of dispute or dissatisfaction ; a fact 
the more notable because his incumbency exten- 
ded through a period when the tide of agitation 
ran high, when there were many squalls, if not 
violent temx)ests in the ecclesiastical atmosphere. 
These latter came on later, as in some instances 
they had also preceded this time. Doubtless, in 
many X3arishes throughout the province this was 



234 CHURCH LIFE 

the case, the tide of peaceful life running on, tlie 
clergy conlident of God's loving, fatherly care, 
and the peoiile glad in every way to sustain their 
holy endeavors, unmindful of the jarring world 
without. 

The form of the letter of induction which Mr. 
Lake presented was the same as that of his pre- 
decessor ; after the recording of which he 
qualified as chief vestryman by taking the various 
oaths required. The rebellion of 1745 will here 
be remembered, the last effort of the Stuarts to 
recover the throne of England ; and this Avill 
explain the stringency of the oaths of which we 
find a copy preserved in the church records. The 
first of these runs thus : I, A. B. do truly and 
sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify and de- 
clare, in my conscience before God and the world 

that our sovereign lord, King , is lawful 

and rightful King of the realm of England and 
all other his majesty's dominions and countries 
thereunto belonging ; and I do solemnly and sin- 
cerely declare that I do believe in my conscience 
that the person pretended to be the Prince of 
Wales during the life of the late James, and since 
his decease pretending to be and taking upon 
himself the style and title of King of England, 
under the name of James III, hath not any right 
or title whatsoever to the crown of the realm of 
England, o\ of any other of the dominions there- 
unto belonging ; and I do renounce, refuse and 
abjure any obedience to him. And I do swear 
that I will bear faith and true allegiance to his 
majesty King George, and him will defend to the 
utmost of my power, against all traitorous con- 
spiracies and attempts whatsoever, which shall 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 235" 

be made against his T)erson, crown, or dignity ; 
and I will do my best endeavor to disclose and 
make known to his majesty and his successors, 
all treason and traitorous conspiracies which I 
shall know to be against him or any of them; and 
I do faithfully promise, to the utmost of my 
power, to support, maintain and defend the suc- 
cession of the crown against him, the said James, 
and all other persons whatsoever, as the same is 
and stands limited by an act, entitled 
an act declaring the rights and liberties 
of the subject, and settling the succession of tlie 
crown to his x^resent majesty and the heirs of his 
body being Protestants ; and as the same by 
another act, entitled an act for the further limi- 
tation of the crown and better securing the rights 
and liberties of the subject, is and stands limited, 
after the decease of her late majesty, and for de- 
fault of issue of her late majesty, to the late 
princess Sophia, electc^ress and Duchess Dowa- 
ger of Hanover and the heirs of her body being 
Protestants : and all these things I do plainly and 
sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to 
these express words Jby me spoken, and according 
to the plain and common sense and understanding 
of the same words, without any equivocation or 
mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever ; 
and I do make this recognition, acknowledge- 
ment, abjuration, renunciation and promise, 
heartily, willinglj^ and truly, upon the true faith 
of a Christian. 

So help me God. 
The next oath we lind recorded is as follows : 
I do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest 
and abjure, as imi3ious and heretical, that 



220 CHURCH LIFE 

damnable doctrine and position that princes 
exconimnnicated or deprived by the Pope, or 
any authority of the Church of Rome, may be 
deposed and murthered by their subjects or any 
other whatsoever. And I do believe that no 
foreign prince, person, prelate, state or poten- 
tate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, 
power, superiorty, pre-eminence, or authority, 
ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the kingdom of 
England or the dominion thereunto belonging. 
So help me, &c. 

A third oath was of a different tenor running 
thus : I, A. B. do swear that I will faithfully, 
honestly and justly nominate and recommend 
such person or persons to be an inspector or 
inspectors (of tobacco) as I think in my judgment 
and conscience is or are fit and capable to execute 
the office of an inspector or inspectors. 
So help me, &c. 

A fourth oath is as follows : I do solemnly 
swear and declare that I will justly and truly 
execute the office or trust of a vestryman of this 
parish, according to my best skill and knowl- 
edge, without prejudice, favor, or affection. 
So help me, &c. 

A fifth and last one is that which had been 
imposed from the beginning: We the subscribers 
do declare that we do believe that there is not 
any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper or in the elements of Bread and 
Wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any 
person or persons whatsoever. 

These oaths together bear in themselves a 
history and picture of the times, showing how 
the currents of feeling and conviction and fear 



IN COLONIAL 3IARYLAND. 227 

were running. For tlie first and second were 
aimed at the lofty but well defined i3retentions 
of tlie combined adversaries of English ecclesias- 
tical and civil liberty, pretensions both of Pope 
and Prince that had more than once formulated 
themselves in the great argument of arms. The 
oaths wer.e not framed against an imaginary 
danger, but one intensely real. These oaths also 
suggest why it was that the Roman Catholics 
were treated as they were during this period ; for, 
the adherents of a pope making extravagant 
claims, and the supposed friends of a house that 
for the religion they professed, were driven from 
England, and were now threatening the kingdom, 
they were looked upon as suspicious citizens who 
needed but the opportunity to excite them to the 
disturbance of the public peace. How far the 
fears were well grounded is another matter. Proba- 
bly a little closer knowledge of the times would 
reveal that the house of Stuart and the pope had 
certain indiscreet adherents in the i)rovince who 
gave a stronger tone to the natural suspicion of 
the people. It is in fact stated that the repressive 
feature of the proposed supply bill during the 
French war had its origin in special ill feeling to- 
Avards certain persons. 

Also the oaths suggest to us rather different 
views of the duties and obligations of a vestry- 
man from wdiat are at present held; though the 
oath of allegiance, required at that time was 
continued down after the Revolution when the 
church ceased to be established, though it was 
then to the state of Maryland. The oaths do 
not bear the signatures of the vestrymen except 
that regarding transubstantiation, called "the 



228 CHURCH LIFE 

test'^ to wliich alone signatures were required; a 
proper title, as it was used even to test a man's 
qualilication for the ballot, the Roman Catholics 
being by that means excluded. They were all, 
however,- taken by vestrymen as "prescribed by 
law," and they continued to be taken down to 
the American Revolution. And we .can see 
readily how during the period immediately 
preceding that event, when men's minds were 
anticipating the necessity of revolt, such an oath 
as the first given, if taken by all the vestrymen 
through many years, should have acted as a 
restraint against"^ that preciintancy that charac- 
terized some of the provinces. For Maryland 
was loth to take the final step and preserved her 
loyalty to the last moment; she would not 
sunder the ties that bound her to the mother 
country until nothing else Avas possible. The 
church was thus to Maryland a conservative 
influence. Also we can understand how in addi- 
tion to the force of education, the clergy, having 
bound themselves by such solemn oaths, should 
have found it difficult, and in so many cases 
impossible, to cast in their fortunes with the 
newly created state, and have X)referred to return 
to the mother- country. 

The most important thing that happened in the 
parish during this i)eriod was the building of the 
new church. For this was the era of church 
building in Maryland, most of the old structures 
that had been erected about the beginning of the 
century, having by this time Avorn out; having 
also, many of them, been so modified to meet the 
growing population, that they were hardly 
capable of any further enlargement. Almost all 



ZZV^ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 229 

tlie more worthy structures of Maryland, what- 
ever tradition may say, Avere at this time erected. 
Most of the first buildings had been of frame, 
the erection of them even liaving been a burden 
to the scant population. Though not only 
wooden buildings had decayed within that 
23eriod, for if we are to take old St. Anne's of 
Annapolis, as speaking by its next friend, Rev. 
Mr. Boucher, as witness, even brick walls had 
' not been proof against the attack's of time. 

"How changed the times, for now all round 

Where numbered stately piles abound, 

All better built, and looking down 

On one quite antiquated grown: 

Left unrepaired, to time a pre}', 

I feel my vitals fast decay : 

And often I have heard it said 

That some good people are afraid 

Lest I should tumble on their head ; 

Of which, indeed, this seems a proof. 

They seldom come beneath my roof" 

The matter of a ncAv (^hurcli was hrst agitated 
in the year 1760, Avhen a thorough examination 
having been made, the old church, having fullilled 
its holy i)i^iiT<>ses for sixty years, was declared 
incapable of standing much longer. Besides, the 
taxables of the parish having increased from 
about five hundred to about twelve hundred, 
there could hardly have been room for all that 
came to worship. The next step was to jDetition 
the Assembly for a levy upon all the inhabitants 
of the parish; and the response being favorable, 
on the twenty-second of June in 1762 an adver- 
tisement was inserted in the Annapolis paper for 
bidders. As it turned out the plan was drawn 
by one of the vestrymen, James Trotter, who 
received for the same fifteen pounds currency, 



330 CHURCH LIFE 

eleven pounds iive shillings sterling, and the 
building was contracted for by another one, Mr. 
John AVeems. The notice of the contract reads 
thus: "Likewise Mr. John Weems, has under- 
taking the buildino: of a breek church in the sd 
Parrish according to the draft of the plan that 
was this day layd before the vestry, and is to 
build the sd church att fourteen hundred pounds 
cur. (one thousand and hfty pounds sterling,) 
without any further charges to the said imrrisli 
in any shape whatever, in case that the vestry 
git ann act of Assembley for what tob. will be 
Avanting of the sum that is to build the said 
church; for as tliay liant tob. enufe in hand for 
the tinniching of the sd church." Evidently the 
schoolmaster was not abroad. Rather his pres- 
ence was sorely needed in the parish. The 
church was three years in building. 

The amount granted by. the Assembly was one 
hundred and thirty thousand pounds of tobacco, 
to be collected in two levies, and the work began. 
Fortunately the builder was honest, and the 
building that he thus associated with his name, 
a name notable in other ways l^eside, will for 
many a day be a monument to his memory. 
The architecture is plain, of course, the interior 
without galleries. Some parish churches of the 
period had these, possibly for the servants, 
though now they are disused, and are a blemish. 
Whether the bricks came from England we do 
not know, for the work was done by contract, 
and no bill of items was rendered. Though there 
was no need of going to England for them, as 
there was clay in abundance near at hand, out of 
which bricks had been made a half century 



IjV colonial MARYLAND. 231 

before. The interior arrangements were accord- 
ing to the order of the time, and the old fasli- 
ioned, high back, square family pews are still 
rememl:)ered by some of the old people. The 
pnlint stood in the middle of the long side on 
the North, with the chancel in the East end. 
This was the more common way, though some of 
the churches, as All Saints', Calvert County, had 
the pulpit at the West end and the chancel at 
the East. The ceiling of the church is arched, 
the windows large, and everything is in due 
proportion. The dimensions are forty by sixty 
feet, and the walls are massive. A substantial 
I)orch of brick with three arched openings and 
about eight feet square, covers the South door. 
Standing quietly in the midst of the churchyard, 
surrounded with many splendid trees under 
which are resting, in the hope of the resurrection, 
the mortal remains of those whose voices once 
rose in prayer and praise from its hallowed walls 
to heaven, it is a worthy object of our love and 
admiration. 

Another matter that occupied the attention of 
the vestry, and whose im]3ortance is 23resented to 
us by the building of the church, was the ques- 
tion of parish lines; for it was a question of 
considerable moment to a man on Avhicli side of 
a line he lived when nearly fifteen hundred 
pounds were to be raised by the sheriff; for the 
church cost in all fourteen hundred and forty- two 
pounds. By 1751 the old lines of 1695 had 
become effaced. Barns and quarters had rotted 
away within that time, and the St. James' people 
thought that the South River parish people were 
not acting fairly, but were "abusing" them. 



282 CHURCH LIFE 

And SO tliey called in the great light "Mr. Dulany 
Jr." to plead their canse and have the lines 
determined. Whether it was done Ave do not 
knovi^, or whether the Sonth River people went 
on '^abnsing'' them, as is highly probable. Bnt 
it has not only for a special levy that the deter- 
mination of the question was 'advisable. The 
parson suffered when the other i)arish got what 
did not belong to it; and so we find the parson of 
St. James' joining in the endeavor to restrain 
the encroaching tendencies of the South River 
neigh])or. 

The parish records throughout this period 
show a thoughtful care on the X3art of the vestry 
for the church and its surroundings. The churcli 
was old enough now to ))e endeared to them by 
fond memories, as the place Avhere parents and 
grandparents, friends, brothers and sisters gone 
on before, had made the rich offerings to God of 
their hearts and minds. It was the centre also of 
life's better activities, far more may be than the 
church is anywhere now ; for there were not as 
many subjects to engross the mind and affections 
then as now; though, of course, the devil's 
allurements were just as seductive to those who 
w^ere not devoted to the faith. The vestry felt 
the i^ower of the oath which they had taken, and 
w^ere diligent in their duties ; sometimes it would 
apx)ear, even to a narrow rigidness that wore a 
hard and forbidding aspect, as when within two 
months of Mr. Lang's death, in the fall of the 
year when the glebe was protitless save as a 
residence, they sent the church warden to the 
widow to demand of her compensation for the 
same "to lessen the charges accruing to the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 2^8 

parisli/' They did it, tliev said "to comply 
Avith their oath " ; but conscience sometimes can 
€ons train a pitiless narrowness that is con- 
temptible. Also on another occasion we hnd 
them solemnly dividing and standing three to 
three, whether they should allow a contractor 
for two pairs of hinges for the church gate. The 
parson stood on the side of liberality, but the 
man lost his money. In 1751 the church came 
into possession of the handsome silver baptismal 
bowl that had been devised by William Loch 
some twenty years before. The cause of the 
the delay does not appear, as the administrator 
of the estate seems to have paid on demand. 
A " pedestal " was ordered to be made on which 
the boAvl might be set. We also hnd at this 
time the old item reappearing of " stocks and 
Avhipping post," the church premises being 
graced with them as a permanent institution. 
Unlike New England customs, hoAvever, thej^ 
AA^ere still reserved only for those who could not 
assert their respectability as a bar, and doubtless 
the misdemeanor that caused the infliction AA^as 
something more heinous than kissing one' s Avif e 
on the street on Sunday. For this offence in 
Massachusetts could be atoned for by nothing 
less than a plentiful laying on of the lash. 

Among other items noAv mentioned is an order 
^' for tAvo yards of cloth for a communion cloth, 
and fringe suitable for the same," evidentl}^ an 
altar clotli such as we have seen in the beginning 
of the century, and such as we also later down 
lind still i^rovided. We have also in 1754 the 
folloAAing articles delivered b.y the rector to the 
vestry, " one silver flagon, one silver challace, one 



234 CHURCH LIFE 

silver dish, one silver bason, one silver salver, 
two snx)places, one silk hood, one table cloth, 
one napkin." The hood indicates that a man of 
learning had been in charge of the parish, most 
probably the Rev. Mr. Lang. The orthography 
of the word surplice was as uncertain then to 
registrars as it has often since been to some other 
persons, we having within a few pages, beside the 
above, "snriilus," "surplias" and " surx^elias." 
We also have through eight years, the vestry 
returning to the county court lists of the bache- 
lors in the parish to l)e taxed under the supply 
bill of 1755 Avhich has been already noticed. 
HoAvever far it may have been one of the objects 
of the law to exercise a constaining force upon 
this fraternity to make them change their estate, 
certainly it in a large measure failed of attaining 
its purpose, as the record shows. The age of 
persons liable was not to be less than twenty- 
ftve years, up to which point they seemed not to 
have been regarded as responsible, and notable is 
the eagerness with which those returned would 
claim their minority if possible. Also if a man 
could fix his income below the taxable rate, he 
was ever forward to plead his x^overty. To abate 
a nuisance, hoAvever, the law does not seem to 
have had much x^ower ; for while indeed the 
numbei' returned in 1757 was twenty which fell 
off in 1759 to twelve, yet in 1763 we find it gone 
\Y\) again to eighteen, ten of whom were returned 
-as having an income of three hundred X)ounds 
and over. Something was amiss. The days 
were not marrying days, for the number thus 
given was large to the whole number of the 
X)eox3le. The income was amx^le. Possibly 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 285- 

eligi])le jDarties of the other part Avere wanting. 
Of the eighteen, five had continued steadfast 
throughout, defying the powers both of attraction 
and constraint. It is noticeable as justifying tlie 
supposition that the other parties necessary to 
the marriage contract were not to be had, that 
no attempt was made to tax them ; though it 
may have been regarded as a hopeless matter 
to attempt to verify the age ; and also, as 
it was perceived that the law was an imposition 
for delinquency, it may have been felt to be 
unjust to lay it on the maidens. 

The Rev. Mr. Lake, whose ministry in the 
parish ceased in 1763, probably kept a school, as 
so many of the rectors did throughout the 
province, thus by this means also assisting the 
welfare of the people ; for Avith a scanty public 
school system, with but one school in each county, 
the opx>ortunities of the x^^ople were small, while 
the standard of scholarship in such schools was 
low. A parish school, therefore, taught by the 
rector, avIio was often a scholarly man, was a 
great blessing, and helped greatly in creating 
and preserving a higher and better tone in society. 
Mr. Lake, also, evidently kept his school in the 
vestry house, which stood in the church yard. 
This was felt by the vestry to be improi^er, and 
so in Ax^ril, 1764, we lind the following entry : 
''This vestry agrees that no choole shall be kept 
in the vestry house of St. James' parrish." 
Most evidently it needed to be kept somewhere 
if the registrars training was a sign of the times. 
The same registrar recording the notice of his 
own election in 1763, writes as follows : " Benj. 
Lane is to continue clarke of the Ridg't for the 



286 CHURCH LIFE 

insning yeare at seven hundred and fdty pounds 
of tob. and if tlie vestry liant tobac. enufe then 
the said Lane is to be paid at 12s. 6d. in pur^^o- 
sion to what the sd vestry shall receive." 

After the departure of Mr. Lake from the 
parish there was no rector for about one year, 
during which time nothing was done excex)t the 
building of the new church, which, of course, 
occupied a great deal of attention. Possibly the 
church was occasionally su2:>plied as for- 
merly it had been ; or possibly the governor 
waited for a voice from over the water. Governor 
Sharpe had come into the province bringing his 
commission in 1753. In the removal of Governor 
Ogle the church lost a friend. Governor Sharpe, 
while in many respects an admirable character, 
was evidently also a man of worldly policy, and 
the adirdnistration of the church at his hands 
was frequently without any vdue sense of the 
vast obligations belonging to his office. Parishes 
were given away without any respect for the 
preferences or protests of the x^eox)le, and with- 
out any regard for the unfitness of the candidate 
for his bounty. He remained about fifteen years 
in office. 



iiY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 331 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FIFTH PERIOD. 

The period upon wTiich we now enter was tlie 
most active in all the colonial history, not of 
Maryland only but of all America. For it was 
the period during which the great questions were 
agitated that finally resulted in the declaration 
of American indejiendence. These began soon 
( after, and Avere in no slight degree dei:>endent 
upon, the extinction of the French Emjiire in 
Canada, the same removing what had always 
been a cause of more or less anxiety to the 
colonists, making them look to England for 
assistance. In another way also did this loss to 
the French in'omote the American revolution; for 
it Avas in part the heavy burdens which the 
French war created, that caused the British 
government to look to the provinces for pecuni- 
ary assistance. 

But over and above all other causes, the agita- 
tion of that last decade that resulted in American 
freedom, arose from within. The colonies, 
that had grown up as children, though without 
much maternal care from the home government, 
which ahvays thought more of British profits 
than of the welfare of the provinces, had now 



288 CHURCH LIFE 

readied the age of manhood, and sensitive in 
regard to everything that did not com2)ort with 
their strength and vigor, they looked with sns- 
picion npon every proi)osed measure of the 
British Ministry, however much precedent might 
seem to justify it. The course of Dr. Franklin 
in London evidences this, for he seconded meas- 
ures there that were violently repudiated at 
home. 

The manhood of the American colonies, how- 
ever, did not show itself only in the way of 
jealousy of British measures. It was the matur- 
ity of a peculiar civilization in which various 
things had been outgrown which up to that time 
had been looked upon as essential component 
parts of a duly organized society. The training 
of the colonies had been peculiar, diiferent from 
anything in the iDast history of states. They 
had been the voluntary creation of individuals 
on remote shores, with a home government too 
much occupied in its own affairs to give any heed 
to them. They had made their own laws, pro- 
vided for their own defence, determined in many 
things their own government. They were even 
in large measiire separated one from the other, 
not only by non-intercourse, but also by very 
marked characteristics. So that a strong spirit 
of self-confidence and self-assertion was engen- 
dered among them in respect of one another. 
They ministered to British i^rosperity through 
the commerce they furnished, while they often 
felt thej^ received no adequate return for the 
impositions they had to bear. 

Under these circumstances an independent 
spirit was develoj^ed in them, and a suspicious 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 289 

disposition toAvards everj^tliing that seemed to 
affect their independence; so that for a score of 
years and more before the final rupture, their 
history was one of watchful protest against some 
dreaded usurpation, whether the province was a 
royal one, or whether it was proprietary. Theirs 
was a civilization in which individuality and the 
j)rivate rights and liberty of the citizen, were the 
most eminent conception, the contrary of the 
leading thought of royalty. And this was in a 
marked degree the condition of things in Mary- 
land, where human rights and the true relations 
of the citizen to the government, as between the 
people and Lord Baltimore, had always engaged 
a large degree of attention. Taxation and the 
right of the people to make their own laws, 
jealousy against prerogative, government by the 
X3eoi3le for the people, these subjects agitated the 
IDeople of Maryland along with all the rest of 
America, through this i)eriod, kindling it into a 
flame, as testified to by a resident of this province 
then. 

And the result was what, may be, no one fore- 
saw, from this great leading consideration, a 
great broadening out of sympathies and a lay- 
ing hold of principles which in themselves are 
the first basis of all right government. So that 
when under the common agitation the issue at 
last was reached, Puritan New England, Quaker 
Pennsylvania, Church of England Maryland and 
Virginia, were found in substantial agreement, 
and all the differences that had existed, whether 
under statute or not, as to the ground of citizen- 
ship, ceased to be. All churches were dis-estab- 
lished and church rates abolished; and even the 



240 CHURCH LIFE 

Roman Catholic, no longer feared under the 
clearer light that had at -length dawned, was 
everywhere accorded equal rights with all other 
men. And doubtless one cause why the Church 
of England was disturbed so greatly during the 
last decade of her existence as an establishment, 
why some of her most prominent sons in the con- 
troversies of the time, lifted up the heel against 
her as an establishment, was that the times were 
out of harmony with such an institution. It was 
a burden because it was, though as yet not per- 
ceived by the citizens of Maryland, abnormal, a 
violation of the true relations that exist between 
men in society. That any man should be disfran- 
chised because of his religion or his want of it, 
or that one man should be taxed to provide niin 
istrations and a house of worship for another, 
for whicli he himself had an aversion, whether 
conscientious or not, Avas contrary to the devel- 
oping sense of American freedom. 

That the church through this time had a great 
trial of afflictions none need question, and that 
without any oifence or fault of her own. That 
she was still afflicted with some evil men was 
true, and that her clergy were frequently out of 
symi)atliy with the people in the great questions 
which the people had received as a birthright, 
but of which the clergy, as ccmiing into the pro- 
vince only in the full years of manhood, were 
ignorant. Also many of the clergy, nearly one- 
half, were foreigners to the colonists, who chiefly 
sprang from English stock; for Scotchmen and 
Irishmen were then, even much less than now, in 
harmony with the English ideas and English 
feelings inherited by the colonists. Also, as not 



US' COLONIAL MARYLAND. 241 

having been chosen by, but imposed upon the 
people, there Avas no mutual sense of dependence. 
Rather the clergy represented an extraneous 
power of whose every act they were jealous, 
which was also at this time disposed ever to 
assume a more imperious tone and to be more 
reckless of propriety in church administration, and 
who only resisted the introduction of Episcoj)acy 
lest it should interfere with its OAvn untramelled 
influence. Unfortunately also circumstances 
brought the church into conflict with public 
sentiment at a time when the mind of the x^iblic 
was violently excited by other questions. 

The great*^ agitation of the year 1765 will here 
be remembered, and the energetic action of Mary- 
land in common with the rest of the colonies. 
The spontaneous outburst of that time was only 
a Avitness to hidden Are. And the flre never 
went out afterwards; for there Avas enough in 
British measures, AAdiether they were proj)osed or 
repealed, to excite the people's alarm. Here AAdll 
also be remembered the great excitement pro- 
duced by the Proclamation act of 1770, when the 
Grovernor attempted to regulate by his own mani- 
festo the fees to be paid the officers of the pro- 
vincial government; an assumx)tion to resist 
which the peojDle had been prepared for many 
years. For Maryland had to contend against a 
tAvofold encroachment, both of the English 
government and also of her superior Lord and 
his governors. All kinds of tyranny excited 
her, but especially that of petty tyrants. 

Unfortunately, therefore, for the church, in 
the year 1767, the question of the induction of 
the clergy assumed large projiortions, particularly 



242 CHURCH LIFE 

because his excellency tlie Governor in the 
plentitude of his power, saw fit not only to 
ignore the people's pleasure in not appointing the 
man they preferred, but in aiDpointing the one 
they reprobated One parish even proceeded to 
extremity and refused to receive the letter of 
induction, and the matter, taken out of parochial 
bounds became a general question. The courts 
of the province decided in favor of the Gfovernor' s 
unlimited right, and his position was snstained 
by the best legal talents of the day. The people 
however, did not know how to yield, and some- 
what inconsistently with their patriotic claims, 
carried the matter to England. But Lord Balti- 
more went on inducting whom he w^ould. This 
question was strongly agitated in various iDarishes, 
and private terms were attempted by the vestries. 
Doubtless had not the Revolution cut all matters 
short the evils of the system wonld have neces- 
sarily been remedied in a very few years. For it 
would not have been x^ossible for any one, and 
certainly not for one wdiose character could not 
command the public esteem, as Frederick, the 
last of his name, to wantonly commit such out- 
rage ux^on the peojDle's highest interests. The 
remedy would have been found before long 
under any circumstances. 

The olcl question that had been coming to the 
surface all through the century, and particularly 
when the waters were troubled, again at this 
time was presented, the question of a bishop for 
the colonies. And nothing exhibits more 
strongly the great yearning desire of the clergy 
for a better condition of things in the church. 
For they all felt that not only was the effect of 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 243 

the delinquent, whoever he might be, bad upon 
his own work, but that all the clergy of the 
province were hindered and their w^ork marred 
by the evil reports that got abroad. And, there- 
fore, their urgency for this relief. But, unfortu- 
nately, they were the only persons in the colonies 
that had strong faith in that means, and who 
did not look upon the remedy as fraught with 
greater ills than it w^as intended to correct. 
Therefore, also, at this time they were again 
strongly opposed. First it w^as by his lordship's 
agent. Governor Sharpe,who in 1767 rejected the 
notion on the ground that it would interfere 
with his lordship's rights, while Governor Eden 
afterwards assumed a more supercilious tone, 
insisting that a bishop, if appointed and resident 
in the colony, w^ould be able to effect nothing, 
because the parishes of Maryland were "dona- 
tives," over the holders of which the Bishop 
could have no control. Lord Baltimore in one 
word, w^ould appoint whom he would, and neither 
his wickedness nor his mistakes should be 
corrected, however much the jDCople's spiritual 
welfare might suffer. Dr. Hawks, how^ever, who 
argues this question, shows that even being dona- 
tives, the claims of Governor Eden were false, 
because a clergyman holding such a living, was 
liable to discipline for evil manners. Gov. Eden, 
further chose to assume a sux)ercilious bearing 
towards the clergy. 

But unfortunately the people at this time 
cordially endorsed the action and the oi)inions 
of the Governors. For as Eddis tells us in his 
fourth letter written in 1770, '^the colonists w^ere 
str'3ngly prejudiced against the Episcopal order," 



244 CHURCH LIFE 

their imaginations clothing a Bishop in the 
colonies with the extreme functions and preroga- 
tives that their Lordships x^ossessed in England, 
a form of power that they both dreaded and 
hated. We have seen also in a previous period, 
that people in England equally opposed the 
Episcopate for America on the ground that it 
would affect unfavorably the dependence of the 
colonies upon the mother country. So to the 
last hour of the existence of the estal)lishment 
there was a harmony of antagonism everywhere 
to this proposition, which was found amongst all 
parties on no other subject; doubtless so ordered 
in God's good providence. 

And yet there was a qvj for discipline. 
There w^as a strong desire for some corrective 
means, and again there was advanced the old 
scheme that had before repeatedly failed. This 
was the apx)ointment of a mixed court under an 
act of the Assembly, for the trial of the clergy. 
This was first attempted in 170S, but the Gov- 
ernor immediately disallowed it, the clergy 
bringing a strong pressure to bear. Again in 
1724 the attempt had been made, but with like 
result, the clergy objecting to the trial of any of 
their order by laymen; claiming that such was 
against the principles of the church of which 
they were ministers. Again in 1768 the attempt 
w^as made, the Governor, as ordinar5% having by 
the bill disciplinary powder granted him with 
power to associate with himself three clergymen 
and three laymen. But again the clergy 
objected, showing, in addition to the former 
argument about the principles of the church, 
that such power would interfere with the civil 



TN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 245 

rights of his Lordship in the matter of the livings; 
and the consequence again was that the Cxovernor 
did not approve. The clergy offered, in a 
memorial to the Assembly, to frame a law which 
should be effective, and at the same time obviate 
these objections, but their x)roposition was 
ignored. As we shall see, the clergy, who could 
be so strenuous for the rights of their order now, 
coukl also ignore the principles on which they 
laid such stress. The clergy were a third estate 
in the province, and were regarded with jealousy 
by both the other parties. 

An instance of this jealousy on the x^art of the 
Proprietary was given in 1769. The movement 
for obtaining the Episcopate about that time had 
been a general one on the part of the clergy in 
the several provinces, and the Maryland clergy 
had acted only upon the invitation of their 
brethren. Having consulted together they had 
come to a like conclusion with them. This com- 
bined action was feared as a precedent apparently, 
by his Lordship, and at this time an order was 
issued by the Governor forbidding the clergy to 
assemble on any occasion. This was a favorite 
means of the Proprietary, he having done the 
same in 1754. The clergy evidently did not re- 
gard his mandate as of any great force, for they 
did meet as we have seen in 1769. By what right 
he should have attempted to interdict their assem- 
bling is difficult for us to jx^rceive. To our ideas 
such an attempt can only appear as an extrava- 
gant outrage. It was a stretch of prerogative 
that could only excite the bitterest feeling' both 
for its illegality and its injustice. 

But misfortunes had not yet begun to cease. 



24() CHURCH LIFE 

Suspi('ion and ooiitiniiely liad been heaped upon 
tlie clergy, most of wlioiii were an honor both to 
their calling and to manhood. Yet there was 
still ]*eserved a bitterness of trial equal to if not 
greater than any yet passed through. This was 
in connection with what is known as the Procla- 
mation and A'estry act question, which began in 
1770, the origin of which was as follows : It had 
been the custom in Maryland as well as in the 
other colonies, for the Assembly, in passing 
money l)ills, to limit the time of their operation, 
with the intention of keeping by this means the 
officers of the government dejiendent u^^on their 
will. In Maryland also, the state of the currency 
made such a thing of two-fold value, the price of 
tobacco being exceedingly variable. AVitli this 
limitation the inspection bill of 1763 had been 
passed, the same i)roviding for the fees of certain 
offices, which were paid in tobacco, as all fees 
Avere, unless the one pnying should prefer to pay 
in money at a iixed rate of commutation. This 
law was ixissed to hold only till 1770, Avhen the 
attempt was made by the lower house to rencAv it, 
with (certain modifications in the matter of fees. 
For the enormous sum frequently exacted was an 
unwarrantable imposition upon the peo^^le, and 
the aggregate in various instances altogether out 
of proportion to tlie duty and responsibility of 
the officer. 

The law, however, did not pass ; for the upper 
house, some of whose members were the recipi- 
ents of much fees, objected, and the Assembly 
came to a dead -lock It was soon found also, that 
an accommodation Avas impossible, and the As- 
sembly was prorogued. In this emergency Gov- 



IK COLONIAL MARYLAND. 247 

ernor Eden saw lit to issue a proclamation provi- 
ding for the fees of office, appointing tliose that 
had been named in the law of 1763 to which the peo- 
ple had so violently objected. Then began the 
war of words and the reign of bitterness, not only 
the amount of fees being exclaimed against, but 
also, the principle assumed by the Governor that 
he could of himself regulate sncli an important 
matter as the fees of office ; that is, by his own 
act assess taxes upon the people. His excuse 
was, and the defence made by his supporters, 
that he was justiiied in his act by the absence of 
any j^rovision for the emergency. But this did 
not in any way satisfy the 2:)eople, and the battle 
lasted till the j^ear 1773. 

Now most unfortunately the church was 
immediately associated with this great 
agitation, though it was some relief that the 
Governor did not intervene in its behalf. 
For the same law of 1763 that regulated officers 
fees provided also for a reduction of the 
poll tax levied for the l^enefit of the chiirch, the 
reduction being one fourth of the amount fixed 
by the original law of 1702. When, however, 
the law of 1763 lapsed, while the officers fees be- 
came an open question, the clergy insisted that 
the provision made for the establishment by the 
law of 1702 again came in force, as that law does 
not seem in kwj of its clauses to have been 
repealed ; only this supplementary act seems to 
have been passed. And in this their ox)inion 
they were ably sustained by some of the best le- 
gal talent of the day. Again, however, it was 
their bad lot to have the same advocates on their 
side as had defended the proclamation act ; so 



248 CHURCH LIFE 

that their influence was very much weakened, 
while some of the sons of the clinrch were among 
her most vigorous and able antag(mists. But it 
was not only a battle of the lawyers. The clergy 
themselves did right manful service, notably the 
Rev. Mr. Boucher, whose stalwart spirit could 
give as heavy blows as he was called on to re- 
ceive, and his thrusts were sometimes well aimed, 
not only at the cause of his opponents, but passed 
through the joints of their armor, as when he re- 
minded some of them that the very law that they 
were endeavoring to overwhelm, was one which 
as vestrymen they were daily recognizing and 
honoring. 

For there loomed up in the midst of the contest 
the question whether the vestry act of 1702 was 
or ever had been a law at all ; the plea being that 
King William, in whose name the writs calling 
the assembly ran, had died before the coming 
together of the same, and therefore that that 
assembly was illegal and all its acts void. Of 
course such a question excited everyone, and with 
the numerous opponents of the law in the colony^ 
that is, the dissenters of all names, with some 
churchmen joined Avith them, and with the whole 
body of the ungodly and the profane, it was a 
heavy blow at the Establishment. Whether the 
facts were as stated, and whether the law was 
null supposing the facts true, was never deter- 
mined ; for in 1773 in the month of November, 
an accommodation was reached, thirty pounds of 
tobacco being fixed as the poll tax, with the 
privilege granted the people of commuting at 
four shillings per poll. The proviso, however, 
was added that such a provision should in no 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 24JI 

way i^rejiidice tlie question about the validity of 
tlie law of 1702. Whether that w^asa so^j thrown 
to the dissenters, because the church was so 
strong and zeal for its support so great as that 
fear was felt about destroying the Establishment, 
or whether it was proposed to keep it an open 
question for final determination, we do not know. 
Most probably, hoAvever, it was only the sop, 
and the church was loved and cherished ])y the 
vast mass of the peoj^le. For it was a crime to 
exact the tax a moment longer of Roman Catho- 
lics, Quakers, and all that race, if the law was 
not binding, and the bitterness of the controversy 
for three years, in which the question might 
have been settled, had prepared the people for 
any extreme stej^ that might be esteemed justifi- 
able. Besides, when three years after this the 
Establishment did cease, the state separated from 
her companion with a tender and generous 
salutation. The proviso, therefore, in all 
probability, was only a peace offering to a very 
influential minority. 

But even these questions w^ere only incidental 
to a great raging sea of excitement whose waters 
were swelling all this time ; an excitement pro- 
duced by the question of stami^ed paper, the 
question of non-importation of British goods, the 
question of sympathy with the other colonies, 
the question of the destruction of the tea in the 
Annapolis harbor ; questions over which not 
only Avere the people excited, but which caused 
them to organize for the promotion of the ends 
they Avere determined on and about which they 
were very clear minded. And again to our sor- 
row we find a large part of the clergy divided off 



250 CHURCH LIFE 

from the peox^le. "All America," said Eddis, 
"is in aflame. I hear strange language every 
day. The colonists are rife for any measrnes 
that Avill tend to the preservation of' what they 
call their natural liberty." To be antagonistic 
to the people at that time and on that subject, 
meant ostracism, and it meant violence too, 
if the opposition of the clergy should show itself 
in crossing the jDeople's will in any way, even in 
the matters concerning religion, or the worship 
of the house of God. And this could not be 
avoided ; for as it has always been found, grant- 
ing any measure of religiousness in a man's 
temi)erament, let a great crisis arrive and that 
man will flee to the Almighty if it is only to 
propitiate Him to become auxiliary for the 
furtherance of his desired. 

And so at this time, we are told, that cmt of 
the fortj-flve parishes in Maryland, twenty-eight 
became vacant at the Revolution, and that only 
twenty-five of the clergy are reported to have 
taken the oath of fidelity to the state. How 
many of these w^ere only half-hearted in the cause 
and so did not command the confidence or respect 
of their people, Ave are not told, but probably a 
considerable ratio according to a general rule 
that has often been tested ; for it was a sore 
temptation to a clergyman then, dependent on 
his imrisli for his daily bread, far away from the 
home country where only, and then only proba- 
bly, maintenance could be found for him and his 
little ones, it was a sore temptation to him to 
take the oath, though with many qualms of 
conscience ; and that so many refused to do it, 
but surrendered their livings, enduring every 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND 251 

necessary discomfort and loss for conscience 
sake, is a high testimony to their christian man- 
liness. It was a trial similar to that of St. Bar- 
tholomew's day 166:^ or to that of 1648 when the 
covenant was inqiosed ; and what they endured 
in every way that refused the test, was equal to 
the burden of those earlier times. For it was not 
only the loss of church and livelihood, but they 
were placed under the social ban, and their lives 
made uncomfortable. For in those days in any 
part of America to sympathize with the king as 
against the colonies, made one to be regarded as 
a traitor and a i3ublic enemy. 

A\'e get some glimpse of the condition of things 
in the experience of the Rev. Mr. Boucher, 
before spoken of ; though, doubtless, his heroic 
fortitude was not emulated by mau}^, and so but 
few, if any, had to bear his extreme discomfort. 
His parish was in Prince George's county, given 
him at the time, he made himself famous by his 
controvers}^ with Messrs. Paca and Chase over 
the vestry act questi(m. Here he remained till 
the bitterness of the times brought things to a 
climax. This was reached in 177o, when he tells 
us : ''For more than six mouths I preached, 
wdien I did preach, with a i:)air of loaded i)istols 
Ijdng on the cushion, having given notice that if 
any man or any body of men could possibly be 
so lost to all sense of decency or propriety as to 
drag me out of my own pulpit I should think 
myself justified l)e}'ore God and man in repelling 
violence.'' Probably the young man's violent 
self-assertion begot the violence that was shown 
towards him ; nevertheless he was sincere and 
felt with terrible earnestness on the subject that 
was agitating every one. 



252 CHURCH LIFE 

But in May of this year his belligerancy became 
even more prononnced. The eleventh day of 
that month had been appointed a day of fasting 
and of prayer, and Mr. Boucher let it be known 
that he would preach in his church. His text, 
Neb. vi. 10, 11, shows the nature of the man, and 
it is extremely improbable that his highest 
eloquence would have accomplished any good 
with that theme. He did not, however, then 
have an opportunity of delivering his mind of 
its burden. For coming to the church about 
fifteen minutes before the time for beginning the 
service, he found that already his curate, who 
was a Republican, was in the desk, and that a 
crowd of men were around the church doors. 
On attempting to enter the leader of the people 
approached him, saying they did not want him to 
preach, when he replied that be would either do 
it or lose his life. The people, however, did not 
look upon that as the alternative. In the mean 
time he had gotten into the church and atteni} ted, 
with his pistol in one hand and bis sermon in 
the other to reach the pulpit. Finding that 
impossible, however, and being surrouncled by 
the excited crowd, he seized the leader by the 
collar, and told him, with his pistol cocked, that 
if anyone should dare attack him he would blow 
his, the leaders, brains out. But the men were 
as stubborn as he was, and while respecting him 
enough not to huit him, they escorted him out 
of church and all the way home, and with music, 
too, though it was by the tifer playing the 
rogue's march. There was evidently a good 
deal of humor in that crowd. Mr. Boucher, 
howevei', was not intimidated, for on tlie next 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 253 

Sunday he went to the church, and though amidst 
great confusion. i:)reached his fast-day sermon. 
Mr. Boucher afterwards went to England when 
the difhculties of the situation multiplied, and 
there spent the remainder of his life in a com- 
fortable parish, and used his talented pen not 
only on American affairs, but besides the special 
Avork of his holy calling, also on matters of 
^philological science. 

It was in the midst of such agitation as this, 
though not generally so violent, as there was but 
one Mr. Boucher in the province, that the estab- 
lishment at last came to an end. The developing 
spirit of liberty, that either directly or indirectly 
caused all this agitation, fully expressed itself 
when at last the proprietary government Avas 
overthrown, all allegiance to a foreign authority 
was repudiated, and the people made their own 
laws and established their own principles of 
government. For the first element of that spirit 
of liberty was equality under the law, and the 
common enjoyment of all franchises ; every man 
being accorded the full possession of the same 
until by his own unworthiness he had been 
adjudged unfit. 

With this api^rehension on the part of people 
the establishment of necessity ceased to be ; for 
the x^rinciple that lay at the bottom of it, was 
that all should contribute to the support of an 
institution that before the law had no exclusive 
value ; for freedom to worship w^as always 
granted in Maryland to every name and sect, 
the Roman Catholics being only politically dis- 
franchised. And this support they were com- 
pelled to render, though to do so they felt to be 



254 (JHURVH LIFE 

a violation of their own rights of j^roperty, as well 
as in some instances, a violation of conscience. The 
establishment was an institntion that had ont- 
livecl its day in America ; and so as soon as the 
anthorities passed npon the princij^les of the 
new government, which they did in the conven- 
tion that closed its sessions November 11, 1776, 
the establishment passed out of existence. This 
was by the Declaration of Rights which set forth 
the x^lainest and simplest principles of civil and 
religions liberty. The state, however, was tender 
towards its old associate ; for instead of subject- 
ing it to the outrage which befell the church in 
Virginia, the glebes, churches, chapels and other 
property then owned, were secured to her, and 
also it was provided that the repairs of sacred 
edifices then in progress under former acts 
slnmld still go on. The incumbents also of the 
])arishes were to be paid up to November 1st. 
And further, the declaration recognized that it 
was legitimate to provide by a tax for the support 
of the christian religion, with the right of every 
individual, however, to say to the support 
of what denomination his money should be 
applied. This is interesting as showing that 
the church establishment with all its draw- 
backs, had not excited that animosity for 
a state support of religion that the outcry of 
the time might have led ns to anticipate. 
Rather there is no reason for believing but that 
the church was very profoundly the church of 
the affections ol* the i:><^<^pl^5 ^^ii^l that she only 
ceased to be the establishment because such an 
external relation was not in keeping with the 
sentiments of the times. The church of Ena:- 



/iY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 255 

land was always the cliurcli of the peoples' de- 
sire, and the best and ablest citizens, with a rare 
exception, were her children. And becanse of 
the love borne her then, and the traditions she 
has inherited from that time, the church in Ma-><. 
ryland holds the eminent position now of having, 
save in one case, a larger percentage to the whole 
Imputation than the church in any other state, a 
fact the more notable when we remember to how 
relatively small a degree the people are gathered 
together in towns where the church mostly nour- 
ishes. The rural districts of Maryland are cov- 
ered by old i3arislies where there abounds a tra- 
ditional as well as personal love of the church, a 
love that has often survived through periods of 
the most adverse circumstances. 



25(5 CHURCH LIFE 



CHAPTER XYIL 

THE PAlilSH. 

St. James' parish presents to us during this pe- 
riod in various things a minor picture of what 
was going on in the colony at large, being dis- 
turbed by some of the causes that so deejily af- 
fected other churches. It presents, also, some 
attractive features, and so doubtless is a fair 
representation of the whole. The Rev. Alex. 
Adams succeeded to the rectorship September the 
fourth, 1764, presenting his letter bearing that 
date. He was i^robably a very good man, for he 
had been a long while in the province, and is 
described as very old. A bad man whose re]3u- 
tation would have been too well known through a 
forty years residence, w^ould not have been able 
to secure such a parish as St. James' at that time 
of life. It is a comfort to remember that he who 
in 1723 was comi3elled to record such a hard fate 
as his fortune, debt, destitution and anxiety, 
should have been able to spend his last days in 
peace ; for in 1767 when he died, St. James par- 
ish was reported to be worth three hundred 
pounds per annum. This was from all sources, 
probably, as another estimate places the amount 
at two hundred and thirteen pounds, three shil- 



/iY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 257 

lings, whicli Avas received from the tax. Otlier 
parishes received at this time, St. John's, Balti- 
more county, three hundred and sixty-four 
pounds; St. Paul's, Baltimore county, two hun- 
dred and eleven pounds; St. Anne's, A. A. Co., 
one hundred and ninety-nine pounds ; Port To- 
bacco, St. Mary's county, two hundred and fifty- 
three pounds ; All Saints, Calvert county, one 
hundred and seventy-three i^ounds. Some i:>ar- 
ishes received even more. Mr. Adams was the 
third rector who died during his incumbency. 

It was Avhile he was in the parish that the 
Church was finally completed, being delivered up 
by the contractor in 1765, Dec. 17th. The first 
intention had been to provide only twenty-six 
pew^s, but this w^as found to be inadequate and 
so the number was increased to forty. It may be 
consoling to some persons to know^ that the peAvs 
were sold, becoming the private and exclusive 
property of certain jDersons ; certainly a curious 
feature under an establishment. Aug. 6th, 1765, 
we have the followdng entry: ''Likewise agreed 
by this vestry that Mr. Sam. Chew is to have the 
south-east pew in the church ajoyning to the aul- 
ter, and the sd. Chew^ is to pay the vestry fifteen 
pounds current money for the same.'- This 
Chew" is the same man that about two years after 
this accepted a challenge from the minister of the 
parish and went to the duelling ground to meet 
him. He was a vestryman. His j)i'oximity to 
the "aulter'' does not seem to have taught him 
self sacrifice. 

The new building would seem to have given a 
deal of satisfaction to the vestry, wdio entered 
upon possession with the determination to pre- 



258 CHURCH LIFE 

serve everything in order and peace. Also, tliey 
were firmly resolved to protect private rights in 
the pews ; for Dec. 81st, 1765, two weeks after 
having received the bnilding, they passed this 
resolution : '' This vestry agreed that if any iDer- 
son should intrude or come into any pierson 
or i^ersons' pews without being asked, such 
person applying to the church warden or vestry- 
men (they) are to take such person that may in- 
trude, (who) shall be put in the stockes, which 
the vestry agrees that a pare of stocks shall be 
erected att the church for that i)urpus." The 
grammar and the spelling are worthy of the cause. 
Who they were that might be so treated we are 
not told, but evidently "respectability" could 
not save them if complaint were entered by the 
pew-holder. It was an eminently i^eculiar way 
of receiving a seeker after the way of life ; and 
doubtless it was highly edifying to the favored 
pew-holders to see such interlopers dragged out 
of the house of God, and the act of doing so pro- 
moted decorum and propriety within the hallowed 
walls. And then their righteous souls were satis- 
lied, as passing by the culprit on their return from 
worship, they saw how such presumption and 
wickedness found its due reward at the hands of 
the officers of the sacred house. The modern 
method of accomplishing the same end of ejec- 
ting and punishing such "intruders" is different 
and much more graceful, but just as effective for 
preventing the misdemeanor. It is to walk up 
to your pew door with as much ostentation as 
you can command, stand there, look surj^rised at 
the "intruder," budge not an inch, but frown on 
him until he lias taken up his hat, arrested him- 



m COLONIAL MARYLAND. 259 

self, and carried himself out of tlie "church," 
filled with anger at you and contemj^t for your 
religion. That is the modern way, and it is just 
as effective and a great deal more refined than the 
horrid stocks. But we do not believe those old 
men ever acted under that resolution. The par- 
son was not present wdien it was passed, and only 
a bare working number of the vestry. It was 
doubtless a dead letter from the beginning. For 
poor and rich, "black" brethren and white, 
have always been welcomed within St. James' 
sacred walls. 

The vestry felt no hesitation about calling for 
money at this time, notwithstanding the fact that 
there had been recently such a very great outlay ; 
but from year to year a levy was asked for and ob- 
tained for the maintenance and repair of the 
church building and its surroundings. This \q\j 
varied according to the needs of the year, being 
at one time live poitnds of tobacco per poll at an 
other two, at another three. The tobacco also, 
that accrued during an interregnum, went under 
the law, into the hands of the vestry, to be used 
for j)arish purposes, nor as far as we can see, 
were the vestries called on at this time to give an 
account of how such funds had been laid out. 
Possibly the clergy absorbed all the public 
attention that was bestowed upon the church. 
There is scarcely, however, room for doubt that 
they used their resources discreetly, for had they 
not, there was plenty of watchful eyes that 
would have discerned the delinquency. The 
church came in for little or no opprobrium 
in those insolent days. The clergy got it all, 
surely a high testimony of the church's firm 



260 CHURCH LIFE 

position in the general estimation. Were tlie 
clergy only the scapegoat for the i:)eople's ill 
will that could not so readily otherwise be 
expressed^ Did a turbulent minority attempt 
thus to wreak vengeance as the only open 
means to express their animosity'^ The sad 
feature is that any of the clergy w^ere found so 
derelict as to give a handle for such ill feeling to 
take hold of. 

The vestry spent liberally on the church build- 
ing and all that belonged to it, keeping everything 
in good order and taking x)ride in doing so. In 
the year 1768 they proposed quite an extensive 
outlay in painting the church, enclosing the 
churchyard, and building a new vestryhouse. 
The money for this purpose, however, was to 
come from a new source, a private agreement 
with the Rev. Walter Magowan, who was then 
serving as a minister in the parish. It will be 
remembered that at this time the question of 
ministerial support was agitating the colony ; 
one of the features of which was that the vestries 
tried to make private terms with the clergy out- 
side of the induction by the governor. Mr. 
Magowan had just come into the parish, and the 
vestry sought to make terms with him, offering 
him a given sum of twenty-tive thousand pounds 
of tobacco, worth about one hundred and sixty 
pounds currency, together with the parsonage, 
garden and outhouses on the glebe. The rest of 
the proceeds from the poll, amounting to about 
seventeen thousand pounds of tobacco, together 
with the i^roceeds of the two glebes, they i3ur- 
posed using ui)on the church property. Mr. 
Magowan yielded for the time to the proposition, 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 261 

and entered upon liis work. His case was jiecu- 
liar, and shows what the clergy woukl have been 
exposed to under the most favorable circumstan- 
ces without just such a law as Maryland had. 
That Mr. Magowan should have been in the par- 
ish without induction, surprises us, but the rea- 
son doubtless was that there was no Clovernor 
in the colony, and that he who acted in the in- 
terval had no authority for this office. Governor 
Sharx^e had been recalled in August 1768, and 
Governor Eden did not enter upon his duties till 
June, 1769. AYithin that time therefore the ves- 
tries had license, and as in this case, they used it. 
The vestry had the beneht of this arrangement, 
however, only for six months, for a letter bearing 
the date of June twenty-first 1769 wasi^resented by 
him in August of that year, and he assumed the 
emoluments as well the authority of rector. The 
vestry had in the meanwhile proceeded with their 
plans, tarring ''the ruff of the church with tarr 
and read oaker," and painting the "head of the 
church three times over with clouded blew," cover- 
ing the "ruff" of their new vestry house with "si- 
prns" shingles, and having new "spike headd 
gates" and " tarred posts and rales " about the 
church yard, also causing " Diel post to be sot 
up." Before presenting his letter let us take \\]y 
events in their order of time. 

Rev. Mr. Adams died October twentieth, 1767, 
and a few days after we find a document bearing 
date of October twenty-fourth, which is alto- 
gether different from anything seen up to this 
time. It has a pious guise but is a disguise for 
conduct as unworthy as usually falls to the lot of 
a civil officer to conceal. It is also nrobably dif- 



262 CHURCH LIFE 

ferent from any letter ever 23enned by a Governor 
of Maryland. 

MARYLAND Ss. 

HORATIO SHARPE, Esq. 

Lieutenant governor and ordinary nnder the 
Right Honorable, the Lord Proprietary of this 
province to the Rev. Bennet Allen of Ann Arun- 
del county sendeth greeting : 

Whereas, it hath been rex3resented to me that 
by the decease of the Rev. Mr. Alex. Adams, 
lately rector of St. James' parrish in Ann Arun- 
del county, the said parish is become vacant, and 
whereas it is very expedient that some minister of 
the church of England should reside and be im- 
powered to officiate and administer the sacrament 
in the said parish until another rector shall be 
appointed and inducted, I do therefore by these 
presents grant license and faculty to you, the 
said Bennet Allen, to officiate as a curate in the 
said i^arish, called St. James' parish, and to 
continue during pleasure, and during such con- 
tinuance to have, take and receive from the 
sheriff of Ann Arundell county the whole 
amount of the thirty per poll as may be due 
from the taxahle inhabitants in the parish 
aforesaid. 

Given under my hand and seal, ect. 

It will l)e observed that this is not a letter of 
induction, but only the appointment of. a curate, 
and that not where there is a rector, but where 
there was a vacancy. Also it is the appointment 
of a curate to serve until a rector shall be ap- 
pointed, and yet by a contradiction he is to con- 
tinue curate during pleasure, evidently the cur- 
ate's own. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 263 

The history of the whole matter, as brought out 
in tlie letters of governor Sharpe is this, Mr. 
Allen, though in orders, was a most unworthy 
companion and favorite of his dissolute lordshi^i, 
Frederick, the proprietary. In his desire to 
help his favorite without cost to himself his 
lordship first laid his commands upon the gov- 
ernor to aj)point him to a parish, he to enjoy the 
emoluments of the same while remaining in 
England, a curate serving for him. The governor 
had the courage to tell the x^' opi'ietary that this 
would not do, that it would be very ill advised. 
And so Mr. Allen had to come over to America 
when he was appointed to St. Anne's, Annapolis. 
But one parish did not satisfy his needs, and 
Lord Baltimore urged that he be aj^pc inted to 
two or more ; but the Maryland law was against 
that unless the consent of both parishes could be 
obtained, such having been a provision made for 
a case where two weak parishes could neither 
separately support a rector. 

This explains rhe letter. Governor Sharpe Avas 
anxious to |)lease his lordship, but dare not 
break the law ; for the peo^^le of Maryland were 
now exceedingly sensitive against all a^^pearance 
of prerogative. Mr. Adams' death had for some 
time been expected, he being a very old man ; 
and as soon as it occurred, knowledge of it was 
sent' to Annapolis, so that within four days, Mr. 
Allen's papers were issued. St. .fames' was then 
worth three hundred pounds. But Gov. Sharpe 
made a mistake when he thought that by vary- 
ing the title he might evade the law, and ^\y. 
Allen made a mistake wh^n lie sup])ose(l the 
people of St. James' would be satisfied if he 



2C4 CHURCH LIFE 

appointed a curate wliile he enjoyed a part of the 
revenue. His curate was the Rev. Mr. Edmiston, 
afterwards of St. Anne's, who seems to have 
been a wortJiy man if Mr. Eddis' notice refers to 
him. This scheming on the part of the governor 
finally brought him and liis protege into trouble. 
For tlie jjeople of St. James' objected, and the 
people of St. Anne's objected, and as Mr. Allen's 
temper ax^pears to have been belligerant, the 
tumult waxed warm. He went, in the former 
parisli, to see one of his vestrymen, but the end 
of the pastoral call was that he was turned wit 
of the house, and with so much emphasis that he 
felt bound in ''honor" to challenge his parish- 
ioner to a duel. The challenge was accepted, 
but of the two, the one not on the ground was 
Mr. Allen. In Annapolis the feud was as bitter, 
only it Avas not settled for some years, when, 
both Mr. Allen and Mr. Walter Dulaney having 
gone to England, the latter because of his tory 
principles, the two met on the duelling ground 
and Mr. Dulaney was killed. 

Mr. Allen's difficulties in St. James' did not, 
however, make him withdraw ; rather he sought 
to avoid the trouble by resigning St. Anne's and 
becoming rector of St. James. Cxovernor Sharpe 
granted this also, but there is no evidence of his 
having presented his letter of appointment to 
the parish. Most probably he did not, because 
on May 27, 176?^, we hnd*^ him inducted in All 
Saints', Frederick county, the richest living in 
the colony, being reckoned at live hundred 
pounds. It is most likely that l^efore he pre- 
sented his letter to the vestry of St. James' the 
oj)portunity was afforded of getting into All 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 265 

Saints', and liungry for income only, governor 
Sliar])e i^leased him by giving him the l^est tlie 
province afforded. But tliere now could be no 
peace for him in any Maryland parish. His 
reputation had gone before him to his new cure, 
and the antagonism was so intense, and the con- 
fusion caused by his appearing so extreme, that 
he was j^revented from reading service. The old 
Maryhmd men were very rough, as they were 
also very ready, and they were just as resolved 
not to have the welfare of their souls bartered 
away by the governor's ambition or the lord 
proi')rietary' s depravity as they were to have 
their property seized by royal or proprietary 
presumption. 

Governor Sharpe's conduct in this will be a 
deep blot always upon his reputation in Mary- 
land history, lie may have been amiable and gen- 
erous, as doubtless he Avas, but he was either 
cowardly or ambitious, at the same time, and he 
betrayed the very highest of the prerogatives of 
his position for his present security. But Ne- 
mesis had her dwelling place in his own actions ; 
for Avhen lie had tried in vain to satisfy the 
favorite's desires by betraying the spiritual wel- 
fare of the people*^ into his keeping, he iinally 
appointed him agent in charge of his lordship's 
pecuniary affairs. But that Lord Baltimore did 
not relish. Mr. Allen might be good enough for 
the cure of souls, but lie was not good enough for 
handling the revenue, and the governor found 
too late that in exalting the favorite he was ruin- 
ing himself. He was recalled in August, 1768. 

We have seen the circumstances attending the 
introduction of Mr. MagoAvan to the parish. 



266 CHUMCH LIFE 

They were very irregular, but regularity was 
restored by liis letter from governor Eden, June 
21, 1769. The letter itself, however, marks an 
era in Maryland church life. For it runs as no 
other letter up to this time had run, in this form. 

Maryland ss. 

Frederick al)solute lord and proprietary of the 
province of Maryland and Avalon, Lord Baron 
of Baltimore, &c. 

To the Rev. Mr. Walter Ma- 
gowan sendeth greeting : 

We do hereby constitute and ajipoint you, the 
said Walter Magowan to be rector of the church 
of St. James' in Ann Arundell county, to have, 
hold, and enjoy the said church, together with 
all the rights, profits and advantages whatsoever 
appertaining to a minister of the said parish, and 
we do hereby require the church wardens, 
vestrymen and all other parishioners of the said 
parrish, to receive, acknowledge and assist you, 
the said Walter Magowan in all matters relating 
to the discharge of your functions. AYitness oui 
trusty and well beloved Robert Eden, Esq., gov- 
ernor and commander-in-chief in and over the 
said province, this twenty-lirst day of June, in 
the nineteenth vear of our dominion, Anno 
Domini 1769. 

Signed by order, 

^ AY. Scott, CI. Con. 

Robert Eden. 

The first thing notable in this is the man who 
takes this proud title and office to himself For, 
the last of the Balti mores, he was the most un- 
worthy that had ever succeeded to the name. His 
moral life was bad, he is described as one of the 



& 



ZiY COLONIAL MARYLAND. 267 

most licentious of liis time. Only in the year 
1768 he had been tried for his life, being accused 
of a most infamous assault upon a female, and 
though acquitted, he Avas believed generally to 
have been guilty. His son and the inheritor of 
the i)rovince, was the fruit of his licentiousness. 
But not only was he vicious ; he was also a most 
conceited 'fool, bewailing the fact that God had 
given him so much genius and so little bodily 
vigor. His conceit took the form of considering 
himself learned, and he was fond of displaying 
his talents in publication. In 1767 he published 
a book with the title: "A Tour to the East in 
the Years 1763 and 1764 ; with Remarks on the 
City of Constantinople and the Turks ; also 
Select Pieces of Oriential Wit, Poetry and Wis- 
dom," which was described at the time as *'no 
more deserving to be published than his bills on 
the road for post-horses." He was immensely 
wealthy, having an income of thirty thousand 
pound&\ He died in 1771. This is the man that 
styles himself Frederick, absolute lord, and 
thinks it meet for him to dispose of, in a princely 
way, the livings of Maryland and the cure of 
souls, livings which neither he nor his ancestors 
had done anything to create, and whose suiDport 
had never involved him to the amount of a i)enny. 
He is the same wdio ex^Dressed his pleasure that 
the clergy of Maryland should not assemble 
together for any purpose. He is the one also 
wdio inspired his trusty lieutenant, governor 
Eden, t.^ assume a cold and repulsive manner 
toward the clergy when they came to petition 
him concerning the episcopate for the colonies. 
But it is not only the man; it is the office also 



268 CHURCH LIFE 

that lie assumes to liimself, wliich is the l)estowa] 
of parishes in his own name which had formerly 
been done by his governors. The act of estab- 
lishment, i3assed while Marjdand was a royal 
colony, l)estowed that faculty upon the governor; 
bnt Lord Baltimore could justify his pre- 
tensions in the matter, not only by the fact that 
the governor in the colony Avas only his agent, 
but also by his charter rights which were restor- 
ed to him in full when the family became 
Protestant. As w^e have seen this question had 
been a leading one within the last year or two : 
and it was probably to vindicate his rights wow 
that the form of the letter of induction was 
changed. Nevertheless, as far as it indicated a 
change in the administration of church affairs it 
was a great misfortune. For if the governor 
present, with the whole weight of public opinion 
about him, and with, at any rate, a knowledge 
of the clergy already in the province, could com- 
mit blunders, or would settle improper persons 
over parishes, how^ much greater the danger and 
how much more hopeless the attempt at discipline, 
if he w^ere deprived of all authority and res^ion- 
sibility, aud made only the witness of what his 
lordship, resident in England, Italy or Constanti- 
nople, might do ; for his lordship was fond of 
travelling. And that this authority in his hands 
meant more than a mere form, we have seen in 
Mr. Allen's case. All that was necessary was 
for him to be aware that a parish was vacant, and 
any companion of his revels could secure a pre- 
sentation from him, and he need never hear of 
the protests and indignation of Maryland 
citizens. Truly the church was reaching that 



A¥ COLONIAL MARYLAND. 260 

last stao-e when deliverance liad to come. Ameri- 
can citizenship was too manful to endure 
such pupilage much longer. 

If Mr. Magowan entered upon his duties as 
rector in times of great disturbance, he certainly 
did not lind them to become less so through 
the whole joeriod of his rectorship which lasted 
till 1784. Xor was it onl}^ the agitation of the 
times ; it was prevalent largely in his own 
parish ; for some of the most outspoken, and we 
must also say violent men of the clay, were found 
;, within the limits of St. James' . And yet, blessed 
1 testimony, the church records bear no evidence 
rj of such a condition. Church life moved on 
^ slowly, church duties were done faithfully ; and 
ij save that we lind the vestry's functions to cease 
j abruptly in 1770, and again later its affairs to be 
j administered by a good many men with a military 
^ title, we would not have known from them that 
!| there had been any warlike commotion in the 
J land. Mr. Magowan w^as one of those who took 
I the oath of fidelity and so he was not disturbed 
{ during the war. Thus St. James' was blessed 
j above many of the cures of the new state. 
f The Declaration of Independence, and the dis- 
I establishment of the church in consequence, was 
llof course immediately felt by Mr. Magowan, as 
\ by all the other rectors in Maryland ; for the vol- 
juntary contributions of the people were not equal 
J to those formerly enforced for the support of re- 
jligion. And soon the people became unable to 
^do what they might desire. In consequence of 
I'this Mr. Magowan took charge of All Saints', Cal- 
vert, in conjunction with St. Jame's, and judging 
from- the large number of marriages lie was 



270 CHURCH LIFE 

called on to perform lie was the only minister 
available witliin a large circuit. The number in 
17S1 was fourty-four. These afforded him some 
revenue, and with the two glebes he was at any 
rate safe from starvation. He thought so api^a- 
rently himself, for in 1780 he married, the lady 
being Elizal)eth Harrison, and the officiating min- 
ister, Mr. Hanna, from north of the Severn. He 
was the fourth minister who finished his earthly 
labors while in the i^arish. 

But however much the affairs of the province 
and of the church might be disturbed prerious to 
1776, the vestry did not fail to attend to their du- 
ties. They held their meetings, required the 
presence of each other even to the i^oint of lay- 
ing a line upon absentees of ten shillings cur- 
rency "besides what is directed by laAv." The 
current needs also were jealously looked into 
among which weffnd the unusual item that Mr. Ma- 
gowan was paid four pounds for keeping the sur- 
X)lice and plate two years, a payment you hardly 
know how to appreciate. He was paid for the 
same again the next year, showing it was no acci- 
dent. Upon its face it would appear that there 
was great anxiety on the iDarson's part to secure 
all the revenue possible for however slight a ser- 
vice, and that the church was an employer to 
serve rather than a cure of souls to foster. It 
will be remembered that probably the most vio- 
lent and long continued struggle the church had 
ever had with the colony about clerical salaries, 
was now raging. The consequence was of neces- 
sity jealousy on the part of the parsons, and a 
willingness to obtain for themselves all the reve- 
nue possible. That they were sometimes betrayed 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 271 

into littleness was only to be expected. The ves- 
try also at this time had abundant means, nearly 
sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco being in the 
hands of one man, bought at the high price of 
twenty- seven shillings and six pence per hun- 
dred. ^ It had also the attendant difficulties nec- 
essarialy resulting from such business, with 
threats to sue for recovery. 

The church ceased to exist as an establishment 
November 3d, 1776, by the passage of the Decla- 
ration of Rights. Two days afterwards the ves- 
try came together and in a most business like 
way proceeded to settle up its affairs, paying off 
all outstanding obligations. The change had evi- 
dently been looked forward to and provided for. 
It was known to have become necessary. The 
revolution that was taking place was by the peo- 
ple in their freedom and sovereignty, and of ne- 
cessity everything that had its rise or existence 
in i^artial views of right and liberty had to be 
done away. Property as well as life was sacred. 
This Avas the foundation of the American system 
as now developing, and so a state church, which 
could only be the fruit of partial legislation, had 
to cease. This was felt all over America. It was 
particularly felt in Maryland where some of the 
sturdiest blows against prerogative had within 
the few last years been given by a representative 
of the great disfranchised class, the Roman 
Catholics, Charles Carroll of Carrollton being the 
man. The vestry had felt and known this, and 
so as soon as a messenger could repeat to them 
the action of the convention they wei^e ready as 
a corporation to adjust their record and cease to 
be. Their last act was to give an order to the 



272 CHURCH LIFE 

rector on the sheriff for the amount of the assess- 
ment by him collected. 

But^iough they took things so philosophically, 
yet doubtless all those who loved the church 
must have been filled with forebodings ; for not only 
was a great change wrought in going from an 
enforced to a voluntary system for support, 
which is always doubtful, " but this was done 
when the air was hlled with the sound of war, 
and when the certain prostration of commerce 
was to bring to every plantation in Maryland 
narrow means if not financial distress. The 
number of polls in 1772 was fourteen hundred 
and sixty-five, about three times what it had 
been in 1700, and the revenue from this and the 
glebe s had been abundant, probably more than it 
has ever been since. This abundant provision 
had now to be relinquished, and what w^as to be 
the result no one knew. And let us not imagine 
it was the parson only who had apprehensions. 
The old parish had long since become the admi- 
ration and love of the people. The church was 
the church of their fathers and blessed associa- 
tions had long since clung around it, as they 
have continued to this day. Besides, what 
would become of their souls' interests if the 
doors of the sanctuary should be closed I The 
word and sacraments, how could they do with- 
out them ? These thoughts, doubtless, troubled 
them, but nevertheless tliey had to descend into 
the darkness. But blessed above many in^ the 
land, the doors never were closed, God's minister 
never was silent, and after a brief interval Ave 
find the corporation showing life again and 
gathering its resources for the perpetuation 
of the church's work. 



IN COLONIAL MAMYLAND. 273 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1776—1792. 

Upon lier disestablishment the churcli in Mary- 
hmd fonnd herself in the midst of wholly 
nnx^ropitious circumstances. To brave those 
circumstances and to rise triumx)hant above 
them, was now her duty, and she was not found 
incapable. At Urst she was content simply to 
exist, her existence and her rights preserved. 
Energy it was hardly possible for her to show 
when the public mind was so engrossed in the 
great war and all resources were reduced to the 
lowest point. For the agriculturists of Maryland, 
who were the great body of her people, snifered 
X)robably more than most of the other colonies, 
seeing that tobacco, Maryland's great staple, 
was cut off from a market, and the people had 
to change their whole style of husbandry. Most 
of the churches were kept open, though with the 
small salaries and the reduced number of active 
ministers, a clergyman often had to serve several 
parishes. Some of the churches were not kept 
open, but owing to local circumstances, the care- 
lessness or the poverty of the people, were 
allowed to go to ruin, to be trespassed upon and 
torn to pieces either by the w^anton wickedness 



/ 



274 CHUBCII LIFE 

or tlie sacriligious spirit of the community. 
Where such was the sad misfortune of the 
churcli it required many years to repair the evil 
and open the sacred honse again for prayer and 
praise. In almost all instances, however, if not 
in all, this has been done ; for there are bnt few 
old rnins in Maryland to mark sx)ots from which 
the chnrch has "had to recede. The church in 
Maryland had for too many years been part of 
the social fabric to allow it an easy death, and 
when times brightened men l)egan to look np and 
God answered their prayers ; and old dismantled 
and desecrated buildings were consecrated anew. 
As early as April, 1778, within eighteen 
mcmths of the passage of the Bill of Rights, we 
find the people in St. James' parish coming 
too-ether, in "a meeting of freemen" to choose 
persons to act as vestrymen, and in all probability 
the records of other parishes would show the 
same ; for where the church was kept open dur- 
ino- the war it would soon be found essential to 
have some persons to attend to its affairs and to 
be custodians of its property. They do not seem 
to have been acting under any law, but rather of 
their own will. Nor was any time appointed dur- 
ino" which those elected were to serve. They also 
inmediately went to work to secure funds for 
the necessary expenses of the church, and judg- 
ing from the list returned Nov. 15th, 1779, their 
effc)rts met with a willing response from the peo- 
ple, for at that time sixty -eight persons were 
represented as subscribing different sums. In 17S1 
however, the number of subscribers was one hun- 
dred and fifty-five, showing a very general dispo- 
sition to sustain the church. The net they cast 



Ilf COLONIAL MARYLAND. 275 

was x)r^ttY large, to catch all manner of lisli, none 
being allowed to escape by reason of its size ; for 
tlie lieading to the list in 1779 reads : Whereas 
no act has hitherto been made for the support of 
the clergy of the church of England by the legis- 
lature of this state, we the subscribers do there- 
fore bind and oblige ourselves, our heirs, execu- 
tors, or administrators, to pay unto the vestry of 
the aforesaid parish (St. James) or their order, 
the sum of money, or quantity of tobacco, wheat, 
corn, rye, oats, peas or beans annexed to our res- 
pective names, on or before the first day of Dec. 
1780, to be applied by said vestry towards em- 
Ijloying a clergyman to officiate in said x^arish for 
one year from the date hereof, and to defray 
other necessary exi3enses of taid parish." No- 
body, however, seems to have contributed any- 
thing except money and tobacco, of which there 
evidently there was still much raised. Among 
the vestrymen chosen in 1778, was the Rev. Wal- 
ter Magowan, his holding of the parish for the 
last eighteen months being apparently by common 
consent. The spirit of the old institution was 
also evidently still hanging about them, for the 
act of 1779, entitled an act for the establishment 
of select vestries, did not admit the rector of the 
parish into this body. This act Avas passed in 
the March session of this year, and was as liberal 
towards the church as it could well be , for the 
church itself had by no means been educated up 
to the expectation or desire of liberal things such 
as are now looked uj)on as essential in her rela- 
tions with the state. The preamble to the act was a 
follows: "'Whereas it is thought expedient- and 
necessary that select vestries be chosen in every 



27() CHURCH LIFE 

parish within the state for the preservation of 
the churches and for the taking care of glebe 
lands and other purposes tending to the ha^^pi- 
ness and welfare of the state." And according 
to the first section the number of the vestrymen 
was to be seven, to be elected by persons con- 
tributing to the support of the parish, and who 
were qualilied to vote for members of the assem- 
bly. The members elect, also, were to take the 
following oath in addition to that of faithfulness 
in their office : I. A. B. do swear that I do not 
hold myself bound to yield any allegiance or 
obedience to the King of Great Britain, his heirs 
or successors, and that I will be true and faith- 
ful to the state of Maryland, and will, to the 
utmost of my power, support, maintain, and 
defend the freedom and index:)endence thereof, 
and the government as it is now established, 
against all open enemies and secret traitorous 
conspiracies, attempts or combinations against 
this state or the government thereof which may 
come to my knowledge: So help me God." 
Such an oath was afterwards continued under 
the vestry act of 1798, only it was so modified 
as to read : "I do swear that I do not hold my- 
self bound in allegiance to the King of Great 
Britain, and that I will be faithful and bear true 
allegiance to the state of Maryland." This 
oath continued to be administered to vestrymen 
for more than fifty years after the declaration of 
American independence. 

Among the other features of the law of 1779 
was one requiring, as under the old system, a 
table of marriages to be set up in the churches; 
and to ensure care and attention on the part of 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 'Hilt 

the people to their church duties, the vestry was 
required to meet monthly, tines being imjDOsed 
for absence. Also if any person, a member of 
the church, and possessing the qualifications 
named for a vestryman, should refuse, upon 
election to serve, unless he had sufficient excuse 
to allege, he Avas fined twenty pounds currency, 
and half that amount Avas imposed upon any 
warden Avho in like circumstances, refused to 
bear the burdens of office. And this is still the 
laAv in Maryland by the twenty-sixth article of 
the vestry act ; only the fines are ten and twenty 
dollars instead of ten and twenty pounds. Such 
fines also are recoverable before any justice of the 
l^eace. That any attempt should be made now 
to collect such fines no one imagines, for it would 
be recognized not only as an act of extreme folly, 
but also as violating that principle of free-will 
offering to God for his church's sake which 
everybody now recognizes as the true root of the 
church's prosi:)erity. And the sentiment is that 
anyone that could only thus be constrained to be 
a A'estryman, Avould only be a hindrance and a 
curse within that body. The fiavor of old things 
still pervaded the church' s new relations ; neither 
the church nor the state could understand hoAv 
true and entire their separation had been. All 
through this period the consciousness Avas ex- 
pressed, not only that the church AA^as dependent 
upon the state for protection in temporal things, but 
that it was for the highest profit of the state that in 
every legitimate Avay religion should be fostered. 
It was a mutual partnership for mutual support. 
Since that day both church and state have enter- 
ed upon larger ideas. The oath of faithfulness 



y 



27a CHURCH LIFE 

to the state of Maryland has been lost in the 
grander idea of fealty to the general government, 
and the church in Maryland, while preserving 
her diocesan autonomy in many things, is a part 
of the church of America with a community of 
interests embracing the whole land. 

The act for the establishment of select vestries 
shows the kindest feeling on the part of the 
state authorities towards the church, and 
along with the recognition of the princix)les of 
the declaration of rights, the utmost desire to 
promote her welfare. And well might it be so, 
for at that time almost all the intelligence and 
influence of the state w^ere found in the body 
called the church of England. For the great 
inroads, chieliy by Methodism, upon the 
church had hardly 'then begun, and everywhere 
care and affection were felt for the only known 
mother that had nourished the people, preaching 
the word, administering the bread of life, minis- 
tering in the hours both of joy and sorrow in the 
ho:nes. AVhen the inroads were made they were 
successful chieily among the poor, but at this 
time they also were loyal. The great subscrip- 
tion list of 1781, when one hundred and fifty-five 
persons combined in the one parish given to support 
the ministry, very many of them poor and of the 
humblest walks of life, as shown by their gifts 
as well as by their names, is an instance and 
proof of this. AVell, therefore, might the feeling 
of the legislature be kind, for it rex)resented only 
the common feeling. 

Under this act the vestries were immediately 
reorganized, save where both spiritual and pecu- 
niary destitution al)Ounded. It gave the church 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 279 

a position again, and set the machinery in motion. 
Seven vestrymen were called for and two church 
wardens ; bnt care w^as taken to exclude the 
rector from a seat, probably owing to the old'v'' 
jealousies of the parson on occount of his former/ ^ 
impregnable position. Care was now taken and 
preserved through many 3^ears, that he should 
not be able to defy the will of the people and 
stay on. This was accomplished by making him 
only an employe, wdiich was attained by exclud- 
ing him from the vestry whose acts would thus 
be independent of him, by retaining the purse 
strings in their own hands, and by makiug agree- 
ments only for short terms. This exclusion of 
the minister continued till 1790. when by the _^ 
action of a church convention, held in Easton, it' 
was recommended that '' the minister and church 
wardens be joined with the vestry in transacting 
church business which may come before them." 
The interposition of the minister had been found 
so far necessary, and he had ceased to be the 
mere hireling for certain j)urposes. He was part 
of the institution. An extract from the records 
of one parish, St. James', under this date is 
interesting. The minister entering the vestry, 
had laid before it the constitution and canons 
both of the general convention and also of the 
church in Maryhmd for consideration, of which 
the vestry expressed its hearty ax)prova], save of 
one feature, that the diocesan constitution re- 
strained the convention from choosing more than 
one bishop. This the vestry regarded as a mis- 
take, thinking that one could not serve the whole 
state. But the trouble was that the convention 
only puri3osed to bestow jurisdiction on its 



•280 CHURCH LIFE 

bisliops, and for his daily bread he was to j)ro- 
vide as he could, by his private fortune or ])y 
his salary as a jmi^ish minister. Therefore they 
could have what opinions they might choose. 
The support of twenty Inshops would be no more 
than the support of one, for that was nothing. 
Opinions, therefore, were cheap. It will })e 
remembered that in 1814 Maryland did elect a 
uffragan bishop. 
^ We have seen that the declaration of rights of 
^ 1776, recognized the principle that the citizens 
/ of the commonwealth mio^ht be taxed for the 



support of religion. In the year 1780, in the 
hour of her distress, the church remembered 
this and sought to have her needs provided for 
by a law framed upon that princix^le. This was 
at a meeting of the clergy and laity held in 
-Chestertown when the form of a petition was 
drawn up to be sent around to the various 
parishes of the state, that being thus numerously 
signed it might have the needed weight. The 
form of the petition was "That an act may be 
passed agreeably to the aforesaid declaration of 
Tights, for the support of public religion by an 
equal assessment and laws, and also to enable 
the vestry and church wardens of this parish hj 
rates on the i)ews from time to time, or other- 
wise, as your wisdom shall think tit, to rei^air 
and uphold the church and chapel and the 
church yard and burying ground of the same." 
Surely a striking instance of the acceptance of a 
false positicm, a church born to new and nobler 
relations, but still in swaddling bands: for the 
church proposed to leave it to the "wisdom " of 
Ihe legislators, who were of all creeds as well 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 281 

as of none, to say what system, if any, slie 
should pursue in raising funds from her children 
for her suj^port. From the circumstances of the 
times, when the time, attention and resources of 
the people were absorbed by the war, this effort 
was perceived to be hopeless, and so was not 
prosecuted. Also it may have begun to dawn 
ui3on the minds of its favorers as an incongruity 
that one "society" as even church people called 
the church at the time, should appeal for a tax 
upon christians of every name, and also it may 
have begun to be perceived that a tax at all for 
religion under the neAv order of affairs and the 
broad liberty of the new commonwealth, was out 
of place. . The ground of appeal, however, was 
not only the maintenance of religion ; thongh 
church representatives could never ignore that 
chief consideration ; but in their i^etition the 
vestries dwelt strongly upon the fact, "That 
where religion is left to mourn and droop her 
head, while her sacred ordinances are unsup- 
ported, and vice and immorality gain ground, 
even war itself will be but feebly carried on, 
patriotism will lose its animating princij^le, 
corruption will win its way from the lowest to 
the highest places, distress will soon pervade 
every public measure, our graveyards, the monu- 
ments of the piety of our ancestors, running to 
ruin, will become the reproach of their posterity. 
Nay, more, the great and gloiious fabric of 
public happiness, which we are striving to build 
np and cement Avitli an immensity of blood and 
treasure, might be in danger of tumbling into the 
dust as wanting the stronger cement of virtue 
and religion, or perhaj^s would fall an easy prey 



282 CHURCH LIFE 

to some haughty invader." To avert such 
terrible consequences churchmen were asked 
to petiti(m the legislature for the tax, and 
from various parts of the state petitions 
were sent up. And, doubtless, religion 
was depressed, and immorality in a degree did 
nourish in consequence ; but, fortunately, 
religion was delivered by a higher and bet- 
ter power than a state tax, with an enfranchise- 
ment that was far more noble and enduring. 
The church tiourishes best when she does not 
look to the assistance, whether willing or unwil- 
ling, of ''the sordid and the seltish, the licen- 
tious and. profane" whom it was hoped by this 
means to c(mipel. The measure though failing 
in 1782 was renewed again in 1788, l)eing fostered 
by the action of Governor Paca who brought the 
proposition l)efore the assembly. The church re- 
garded the establishment of peace and the as- 
sured position of the country among the nations 
of the earth as a fit occasion for granting state 
aid. But though so powerfully supi)oi-ted, again 
the measure came to nothing. Though such 
longing eyes looked out, aud such hox^eful hands 
were in vain extended, yet all of the clergy were 
not like that brother who in 1784 refused to at- 
tend a church convention because it had not been 
summoned by state authority. 

Through all this time the parishes were strug- 
gling to sustain themselves ; and with sufficient 
difficulty to please everyone who might have re- 
membered with aversion their abundance in 
other days. The common recourse was to join 
several parishes together, with service on different 
Sundays ; an unfortunate necessity wherever it 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 283 

prevails, as it still does in many places. For ei- 
ther loyalty is wounded in our members going off 
to other houses of worship on the intervening 
Sundays, or devotion is cooled by their idling at 
home. But few have the gace to occupy the day 
for their si:)iritual prolit in their closets. 

Among the parishes that were comj)elled to 
have recourse to this means for support was St. 
James', and by the advice of the vestry we find 
the rector assuming to his care All Saints, Cal- 
vert Co Mr. Magowan, avIio died in 1784, was at 
that time performing this double duty, and his 
successor, the Rev. Dr. Thos. John Claggett, who 
became rector in 1786, Aug. 1st, gave his care and 
attention to the same extensive field. This gen- 
tleman who, while still rector of St. James in 
1792, was elected to the episcojiate of Maryland, 
had previously held various parishes, on all of 
which he doubtless made a strong impression. 
For he was a man of marked force of character^ 
and along with his learning, he was exact and 
business like in his engagements and transac- 
tions ; one of those men that in a crisis prove of 
permanent and enduring value to the enterprise 
in which they are engaged. So as afterwards in 
diocesan matters, it was now in parochial concerns. 
Everything was done decently and in order ; but 
besides he was able to enkindle in the parish he 
occupied for the six years after 1786, a deep in- 
terest in all general church affairs, making that 
parish to be a fair representative of the l^est pa- 
rochial life of the day. 

He was first chosen for three years, and was 
afterwards reelected three several times for one 
year each, probably by his own preference for 



284 CHURCH LIFE 

such a sliort term. This election for a limited 
term was then the nniversalcustom, begotten doubt- 
less by the unfortunate experience of the colonial 
times when a man inducted could defy all au- 
thority to remove him. Tneact of 1779 provided 
for the election of rectors for limited terms, as 
well as does that of 1798 still in force. The 
p)revalence of the contrary custom is the result 
of the fact that the clergy can in the vast ma- 
jority of cases, be trusted ; that the old method 
of electing annually took away from the inde- 
pendence and self respect of the minister, who 
became so far an annual applicant for the suf- 
frage of the people, the question of his tenure 
entering into every election of vestrymen ; and 
and also, that the highest welfare of the parish 
is promoted by the long continued residence of 
the pastor. 

But if the people provided for their own pro- 
tection, the clergy in some instances were watch- 
ful to provide for theirs, and could not be induced 
to enter upon the duties of a rectorship until they 
had every guarantee that their salary was well 
secured ; for there were a good many promises to 
pay which were never realized by the parsons. 
Dr. Claggett was one of this careful sort, and be- 
fore he would enter upon the rectorship, we find 
this among the parish records: ''Ordered that 
the Register write to Mr. Thomas John Claggett 
informing him that the following gentilemen of 
the vestry, viz : Mr. John Hall, Mr. Ezekiel Gott, 
Mr. Benjamin Burgess, Capt. William Weems, 
and one private gentileman, Maj. Richard Chew, 
had left their obligations with the Register which 
obligations are to be delivered to the said Claggett 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 285 

on his obligating himself to the vestry for his 
performance for three years. The other gentile- 
men of the vestry promise on their honour that 
they will do everything in their power to make 
np the remaining part of the sallery." 

In consequence of this communication, the fol- 
lowing agreement was drawn up and signed : "St. 
James parish, July 21st, 1786, at a vestry met 
and held in the veshy room of the said parish by 
the vestrymen thereunto legally authorized and 
appointed on the day and year above Avritten, 
present Col. John Weems, "^John Hal], Ezekiei 
Grott, Richard Harrison, Benjamin Burgess, Capt. 
Wm. Weems, and Zechariah Childs, church war- 
den. The Rev. Doct. Thomas John Claggett ap- 
pears and agrees to officiate in the aforesaid par- 
ish church every other sabbath and to perform 
all the accustomed duties of the said parish for 
three years unless prevented by sickness or other 
unforseen casualty. 

For and in consideration of the above services 
the vestry do hereby license, induct, constitute 
and appoint him, the said Thomas John Claggett 
(Doc. in Divinity) rector of the said parish," and 
give him the free use and enjoyment of all and 
every the glebes and their appurtenances, to- 
gether with the exclusive right to the pulpit in 
the parish church, and all other privileges, im- 
munities and advantages which any minister of 
this parish ought to enjoy : This agreement to 
continue and be in full force for and'during tHe 
term of three years, to commence from the first 
day of August, 1786, unless death, sickness or 
any other unforseen accident should cause the 
said Claggett to vacate the i3arisli, and in that 
case only it shall be null and void." 



286 CHURCH LIFE 

To this writing is appended tlie name of Dr. 
Claggett only. Why, as it was a letter of induc- 
tion and appointment his name only was signed 
does not appear. The spirit of the old times had 
evidently not departed, and while parson and 
people could respect and love each other, as they 
evidently did, yet they had great confidence mu- 
tually that business could not be done in too 
regular and careful a way. — an example it would 
be well for both clergy and vestries now to follow 
more frequently than they do. In consequence 
of this particularity Dr. Claggett' s rectorship was 
peaceful throughout and he was able to wield a 
large power for usefulness. Also he was able to 
stimulate the people to give great attention to 
the general affairs of the church both in the dio- 
cese and also in the country at large. Fortu- 
nately he found men in the vestry who had suffi- 
cient intelligence and devotion to the church to 
make them take great interest. He was doubt- 
less in congenial company, and being a resident 
in the parish he had ccmstant opportunities to 
make his influence permanent. How much St. 
James' parish owes to his residence in it at this 
time it would be impossible to say. 

One of the first subjects brought to the consid- 
eration of the churchmen of Maryland in those 
days was the rights, inherent and necessary, that 
belonged to the church. This question had been 
first agitated in 1783 when it had been proposed 
in the legislature of the state to appoint ordainers 
for the ministry ; a strong testimony of the at- 
tachment of the people to the former establish- 
ment, along with a marvelous ignorance of the 
very first princii^le of its true position. This 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 287 

proposition was of course immediately and 
successfully resisted by tlie church clergy, one of 
whom was publicly heard before the house 
upon the measure. The fact that such a propo- 
sition could be made, however, alarmed the 
church and so at a meeting of a convention held 
at Anaapolis in August in the ^^ear above given 
"Certain fundamental Rights and Liberties of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church of Maryland" 
were distinctly declared. This convention it will 
also be remembered, elected Dr. AVilliam Smith 
to the Episcoi^ate, though for certain reasons he 
was never consecrated. This declaration, how- 
ever, of rights and liberties was not at that time 
submitted to the vestries, because though the 
convention that passed it was regarded as valid, 
yet things were still in an inchoate condition. In 
1788 there a was general review of past action and 
this Declaration along with certain other com- 
pleted acts, as canons and rules were sent down, 
and all the parishes were called on to earnestly 
consider them. As they embraced ennnent innn- 
cii3les it was a most excellent means of instruc- 
ting the i^eople. These rights and liberties which 
it was felt to be necessary to x)roclaim to the world, 
but especially to the state of Maryland under 
whose "constitution and form of government" 
the church was existing, were enumerated as 
follows : 

1st. AVe consider it as the undoubted right of 
the said Protestant Episcopal Church, in common 
with other christian churches under the Ameri- 
can revolution, to complete and j)reserve herself 
as an entire church agreeably to her ancient 
usages and professions^ and to have the full en- 



288 CHURCH LIFE 

joyment and free exercise of tliose jmrely spiri- 
tual powers which are essential to the being of 
every church or congregation of the faithful, and 
which, being derived only from Christ and his. 
apostles, are to be maintained independent of 
every foreign or other jurisdiction so far as may 
be consistant with the civil rights of society. 

2nd. That ever since the reformation it hath 
been the received doctrine of the church whereof 
we are members, (and which by the constitution 
of this state is entitled to the perpetual enjoy- 
ment of certain property and rights under the 
denomination of the church of England) that 
there be these three orders of ministers in Christ's 
Church, Bishops, Priests and Deacons ; and that 
an Episcopal ordination and commission are nec- 
essary to the valid administration of the sacra- 
ments and the due exercise of the ministerial 
function in the said church. 

3d. That without calling in question the rights,, 
modes and forms of any other christian church 
or societies, or wishing the least contest with 
them on that subject, we consider and declare it 
to be an essential right of the said Protestant 
Episcopal church to have and enjoy the continu- 
ance of the said three orders of ministers so far 
as concerns matters purely spiritual, and that no 
persons in the character of ministers, except such 
as are in the commission of the said church, and 
duly called to the ministry by regular Episcopal 
ordination, can or ought to be admitted into or 
enjoy, any of the churches, chapels, glebes, or 
other property formerly belonging to the church 
of England in this state, and which by the con- 
stitution and form of Government is secured to- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 289 

tlie said clinrcli forever, by wliatever name the 
said cliurch or lier superior order of ministers 
may in future be denominated. 

4tli. Tliat tis it is the rigiit so it will be the 
duty of the said church, when duly organized, 
constituted and represented in a synod or con- 
vention of the different orders of her ministry 
and people, to revise her liturgy, forms of prayer, 
and X3ublic worship in order to adapt the same to 
the late Revolution and other local circumstances 
of America ; which it is humbly conceived, may 
and will be done without any other or farther 
departure from the venerable order and beautiful 
forms of worship from whence we sprang, than 
may be found expedient in the change of our 
situation from a daughter to a sister church." 

This coiDy is taken from the books of St. James 
parish, on which the vestry had h^id it spread 
because it was regarded as of such great impor- 
tance. That the document was important, is 
evident from the fact that after an interval of 
live years from its passage it was thought 
advisable to j)ublish it again a second time. And 
it was important because, knowing Episcopacy 
only as it existed in England where immense 
prerogatives were enjoyed by the Episcopal 
order, and where the lord bishops had almost 
always been on the side of arbitrary government 
and had used their power for the repression of 
the liberties of the people, the citizens of America 
from one end of the country to the other, stood 
in dread of it ; so that the possibility of the 
institution of Episcopacy was one of the chief 
causes leading to the Eevolution. The order as 
represented in the iDersons and office of Bishops 



290 CHURCH LIFE 

Seabury, White or Claggett, was something of 
whicli the American mind had up to this time 
formed no idea. The church in South Carolina, 
it will be remembered, was glad to be enrolled 
among the dioceses of the land, only it did not 
want a Bishop. 

It was against this prejudice, therefore, at this 
time the church in Maryland was providing for 
herself. She was determined to secure the 
episcopate and had taken the first stej) in 1783, 
she dreaded to have her altars invaded, as well a.' 
her property possessed by those whom she could 
not look upon as duly ordained. She fearer 
those proposed to be appointed by the state a|?> 
ordainers to the ministry, and she dreaded le^ 
the body of enemies who surrounded her and 
wdiom she had in other days done little to con- 
ciliate, should be al)le to seize on some lapse of 
hers,- as the change of her name, or the change 
of her liturgy, to deprive her of the i^ossession 
of her churches, chapels, or other devout bene- 
factions of her children in other days for the 
support of her ministry. How far there was 
reason for that fear is questionable. With her 
declaration, however, her rights were preserved ; 
how far it was by it we do not know. Certainly 
the state ot" Maryland looked with favor on the 
church in Maryland, as was proven when the 
legislature admitted a clergyman to argue a 
chnrch question before it and then decided 
according to his argument. That the great 
powerful organization of 177G sliould have been 
compelled in 17^3 to put forth such a document 
suggests a contrast that excites our sympathies. 
It was a change, however, out of whicli noble 



IN COLONIAL MABYLANB. 291 

fruits were in time to grow. Her hesitation 
about lier name and that of "lier superior order 
of ministers ' ' which was expressed in 1783, was 
to be forgotten in the church's strongly pro- 
nounced views and claims of the days to come. 

If tlie cliurcli, lioAvever, was so bold in declar- 
ing her rights and liberties she was not ready to 
be quite so bold in acting up to her declaration; 
for in 17S3 Ave find her apx3ealing to the legis- 
lature of the state for privilege to change her 
name and adaj)t her liturgy as Avell as to secure 
for herself the means of perpetuating her niinis- 
[ry. To make this appeal may have been 
partly the result of former training and partly 
.'ear of jeopardizing her property secured to her 
MS the church of England. But whatever the 
cause, the fact was felt by others to be un- 
necessary, and the attempt was looked ux3on 
with jealousy as in some way an endeavor to 
secure state recognition for the church. The 
contest that arose was bitter, but the aj)peal of 
the church was favorably received by the assem- 
bly. This was in May, and it was in the Augnst 
following that the declaration of liberties was 
made and the Rev. Dr. William Smith elected to 
the Episcoj)ate. 

Another document of great interest issued at 
this time was a declaration of ''certain funda- 
mental principles of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of Maryland, &c." In it the church labor- 
ed to minimize her positions, to assert as little as 
was possible ; these principles being rather as 
postulates which were to be the basis of the leg- 
islation which she saw to be necessary, and which 
she would as soon as micjht be enact. It will be 



292 CHURCH LIFE 

remembered that the dioceses had at first to act 
for themselves, and legislation was necessary in 
them which was afterwards delegated to the Gfen- 
eral Convention ; also in the earlier conventions 
of Maryland down to and including those of 
1783, only clergy had sat. In 1784 lay delegates 
were present, and their aj^proval became neces- 
zary to all acts passed. It was at this time this 
declaration of "certain fundamental principles" 
was made to regulate and control the relations of 
the various orders in the church among them- 
selves. These principles are as follows : 

"1st. None of the orders of the clergy, whether 
Bishops, Priests or Deacons, who may be under 
the necessity of obtaining ordination in any for- 
eign state with a view to officiate or settle in this 
state, shall, at the time of their ordination, or at 
any time afterwards, take or subscribe any obli- 
gation of obedience, civil or canonical, to any for- 
eign power or authority whatsoever, nor be ad- 
missible into the ministry of this church if such 
obligation have been taken for a settlement in any 
foreign country, without renouncing the same by 
taking the oaths required by law, as a test of 
allegiance to this state. 

"2nd. According to what we conceive to be 
true apostolic institution, the duty and office of a 
Bishop differs in nothing from that of other 
priests except in the power of ordination and 
confirmation, and in the right of precedency in 
ecclesiastical meetings or synods, and shall 
accordingly be so exercised in this church ; the 
duty and office of Priests and Deacons to remain 
as heretofore ; and if any further distinctions 
and regulations in the different orders of the 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 293 

ministry should afterAvards be found necessary 
for the good government of the church, the same 
shall be made and established by the joint voice 
and authority of a representative body of clergy 
and laity at future ecclesiastical synods or con- 
ventions. 

"3d. This third section is intended to define 
or discriminate some of the separate rights and 
powers of the clergy and was proposed and 
agreed to as follows, viz. : that the clergy should 
be deemed adequate judges of the ministerial 
commission and authority which is necessary to 
the due administration of the ordinances of 
religion in their own church, and of the literary, 
moral and religious qualities and abilities of 
persons fit to be nominated and appointed to the 
different orders of the ministry. But the ap- 
proving and receiving of such persons to any 
particular cure, duty or parish when so nomi- 
nated, appointed, set apart, consecrated and 
ordained, is in the people who are to support 
them and to receive tlie benefit of their ministry." 

These principles w^ere the outgrowth of the 
time, and have all been more or less modified as the 
feelings and circumstances of those days have 
changed. For the church feared, and doubtless 
with reason, that its every act and position 
were watched with jealousy, a perfectly legiti- 
mate state of mind when we remember the old 
times before the Revolution just closed, and 
w^hat x^olitical position so many of the clergy had 
assumed during the war. So the first principle 
in regard to allegiance to any foreign power. 
Some of the clergy on the breaking out of hostili- 
ties or before, had gone back to England, but 



294 CHURCH LIFE 

many had simply STirrendered their parishes and 
discontinued their ministry. The whole body, 
was therefore nnder snspicion. Also the infant 
state was exceedingly sensitive, and did not yet 
know whom to trust, and consequently the oath 
of allegiance continued for many years to be 
generally imposed. Also, various persons, a 
number from Maryland, were going abroad for 
ordination, and it was doubtful what they would 
have to submit to if they would succeed. 

For these reasons this princix^le was enunciated; 
but as time has since gone on the postulate has 
been so far modified or ignored as that not only 
is such oath of allegiance no longer required, but 
citizens of a foreign state are found in some 
instances in possession of i)arishes. Even the 
vestry act of 1798 did not embody this principle 
though the oath was required of persons ele(^ted 
vestrymen. 

And so in regard to the second proposition, 
that according to ''true apostolic institution the 
duty and office of a bishop differs in nothing 
from that of other priests except in the power of 
ordination and confirmation, and in the right of 
precedency in ecclesiastical meetings or synods, 
and shall accordingly be so exercised in this 
church." This was an overwhelming renuncia- 
tion of that scheme of Episcopal prerogative 
which was such a bug-bear in the American mind. 
It is denied that they are a separate order, but 
are associated with " other priests," to whom 
only certain additional functions have been 
assigned. There are no rights of their order 
that place them outside of or above the law. 
There are no fatherly prerogatives by which 



IJ\r COLONIAL MARYLAND. 295 

eitlier priests or people become to them as chil- 
dren. The right to ordain and confirm, and 
precedency in synods are theirs — nothing more. 
A wonderful contrast with the functions of their 
order as exercised by his Lordship, Archbishop 
Laud, who stood out in the American mind as 
the embodiment of ecclesiastical enormity, though 
only the strong representative of his class and 
order. 

But a Bishop is a good deal more than such a 
functionary as our fathers Avould have made him. 
Americans are still rigiit jealous of any "prero- 
gatives" that a bishop may be disT)osed to assert, 
and our wisest bishops are very chary of assert- 
ing such, but he is tlie father among his people: 
his inliuence is powerful in his diocese ; accord- 
ing as he exx)resses desires, preferences oi' inten- 
tions will the policy of his diocese become; while 
his animadversions and rebukes, whether against 
men or measures will be dreaded. The office has 
been found of too lofty an origin and its necessary 
functions too high and holy to allow our fathers' 
''fundamental principle" to place cramping limi- 
tations upon it. 

The third princi])le was also an adaptation, 
though from a different stand [)oint; for while 
the other principles were for the purpose, in 
large measure, of conciliating the i)eople, this 
was for the purpose of defending the rights of 
the clergy in a point where those rights were 
threatened. And so its object as stated: ''to 
define or discriminate some of the separate rights 
and powers of the clergy.'' Former! 3^ under the 
establishment the laity had nothing to do but 
accept the rector appointed to their parish and 



296 CHURCH LIFE 

make tlie best of him. Afterwards, towards the 
close of the Revolution, as we have seen, the 
laity, as asseml)led in the state legislature, con- 
sidered the proposition of appointing ordainers 
to the ministry. The clergy, therefore, in 1784 
felt that right views concerning their prerogatives 
were in danger, and so this principle. They 
would discriminate or define their separat'e 
rights and powers. The rights of the laity were 
of course recognized, thaf it was for them to 
receive or not any minister into a parish. But 
the claimed as tlieir own the right to determine 
upon '' the ministerial commission and authority 
which is necessary to the due administration of 
the ordinances of religion in their own church, 
and of the literary, moral, aud religious qualities 
and abilities of x^ersons fit to be nominated to 
the different orders of the ministry.'' They 
insisted that that ])ower belonged to them, as 
being by divine right custodians of their own 
order. And the laity represented in the conven- 
tion, recognized the princii:>le as sound, and it is 
one that has controlled the church in Maryland 
from that day to this ; though for a while, in the 
enactinent of canons at this time it would appear 
that this exclusive right of the clergy over their 
own order was allowed to fall into abeyance. 

It will be remembered that in Connecticut, and 
particularl}^ in the person of Bishop Seabury, 
there was an indisposition to admit the laity into 
church conventions, nor was it a thing which 
English clei'gymen were familiar with — the direct 
intluence of the laity ceasing with their power in 
parliament. Such admission, however, was 
necesssary in America, and was xevj soon uni- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 297 

versally recognized. But Maryland claims the 
princii^le and acts on it, tliat the clergy have 
entire right over their own order, and so she 
alone, with Connecticut, has a standing committee 
comi:)osed entirely of clergymen, because one of 
the chief functions of that standing committee 
is to pass upon "the literary, moral and religious 
qualities and abilities of i^ersons to be nominated 
and appointed to the different orders of the 
ministry/' Also although the laws under which 
that committee are to act, are i3assed by a con- 
vention composed of both clergy and laity, yet 
the principle is saved and exemx^lified by the 
large discretion that is placed in the hands of the 
mend)ers of that committee. And churchmen 
are lighting against their true principles when 
they attempt to limit the freedom of that discre- 
tion. Such a committee should have "power" 
entrusted to it outside and above all conventions, 
vestries and all other bodies wherein laymen may 
sit. So only can we be true to this fundamental 
principle. 

But Maryland shows her consistency^ with this 
principle in another of her acts, her ecclesiastical 
court. She was not always consistent, as we shall 
see presently, but right thinking attained its end 
wdien that court was instituted and made to con- 
sist only of clergymen. This was a point that 
Bishop Seabury was earnest for, that the right of 
trial of clergymen should be only in the hands of 
the clergy, the power of deprival where the power 
of ordination rests, and Maryland reached it af- 
ter a while ; because true church princij^les as 
such have been at the root of Maryland action. 
It is observable that the two dioceses that have 



298 CHURCH LIFE 

been strictest in tlieir adherence to this '' funda- 
mental jirinciple" are the two whose ratio of 
comnmnicants to the poi)ulation today stands the 
highest. 

Another point insisted on at this time was tliat 
there should be annual meetings of the conven- 
tion, a symbol and manifestation of power that 
must have, to the clergy of that convention in 
1784, contrasted most agreeably with the time 
when the word of a dissolute lordling could for- 
bid their meeting together for God's work. And 
yet only eight years had intervened! Truly it 
was freedom ! 

One of the first thoughts of the church in Ma- 
ryland after the enunciation of her rights and 
princij^les, was the question of discipline, the 
power to administer which having been the great 
demand from the beginning. The many attempts 
that had been made to secure sonie eifective 
agency for this purpose will here be remembered, 
attempts that on account of the jealousy of one 
or other party, had always x^i'oven abortive, the 
church rejecting the mixed court that the state 
would erect, and the state and the people refusing 
to allow a Bishop or the delegation of sufficient 
T)ower to a commissary. Now the church had 
the i3ower herself, and by a marvelous inconsis- 
tency she embodied the principle in her legisla- 
lion that she had always contended against, and 
which was in direct contravention of her own 
above recorded principles. For as Bishop Sea- 
bury stated, the power of deprival can only be 
lodged legitimately in the hands that have the 
power of ordination, which is what the church 
in Maryland had always said, when contending 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 299 

against a mixed court. They wanted a Bishop 
for discipline as the only legitimate and effective 
means. 

And yet one of the lirst acts finally passed 
upon in 1788, entitled "Additional constitutions 
or rules respecting the discipline and government 
of the Protestant Episcoi^al church in Maryland," 
sets out with the statement that the "General 
Convention of this church (in Maryland) consis- 
ting of the different orders of the clergy and 
laity duly represented, shall have the general 
cognizance of all affairs necessary to the disci- 
pline and good gov^ernment of the church, in- 
cluding x^articularly the poAver and authority 
necessary for reclaiming or excluding from church 
privileges scandalous members, whether lay or 
clerical, and all jurisdiction with regard to offen- 
ders, the power of suspending or dismissing 
clergymen of all orders from the exercise of their 
ministry in the church." 

Also by the second of these constitutions it was 
appointed, that " Future conventions shall frame 
and establish rules or canons for receiving com- 
plaints, and shall annually appoint a committee 
consisting of an equal number of clergy and 
laity, (including the Bishop when there shall be 
one duly consecrated among the number of the 
clergy) which committee shall have standing au- 
thority, government, and jurisdiction (agreeable 
to such rules as may be given for that purpose) 
in all matters respecting'the discipline and gov- 
ernment of the church that may arise or be nec- 
essary to be x)roceeded upon during the recess or 
adjournment of general conventions.'' This term 
"general convention" is probably used as in. 



300 CHURCH LIFE 

contradistinction from tlie meetings of the sui3er- 
intending and outstanding committees, each of 
which was composed, but especially the latter, 
of a large number of persons. 

For agreeably to the above provision, by the 
fourth of the rules of 1788, there was ordered 
"A standing committee consisting of five clergy- 
men and the like number of laymen, of each 
shore, the clerical members to be chosen by the 
clergy and the lay members by the laity, in an- 
nual convention. Their duty shall be to corres- 
pond with like committees throughout the states 
and execute the authority given them by the sec- 
ond additional constitution as above inserted." 
By the ninth and tenth rules also, we have the 
method of proceeding: "Disorderly, scandalous 
and immoral conduct, neglect of duty or a disre- 
gard to the canons or rules of the church, are of- 
fences for which a clergyman may be brought to 
trial ; to which end application shall be made 
by the accuser to the president for the time be- 
ing, who shall without delay call together the 
standing committee to meet at a convenient place 
on the shore where the accused person resides ; 
a majority of whom, both as to clerical and lay 
members, shall have authority to inquire into 
the charge or charges in the presence of both 
parties, and having heard the evidence, shall pro- 
ceed to state and report the facts to the next con- 
vention, who having heard whatever may be of- 
fered by either of the parties in further evidence, 
i^^all proceed to pronounce such sentence as they 
may think the offence deserves ; provided that 
no sentence exceed reproof, suspension or dismis- 
sion ; and that if any accusation is brought 



AY COLONIAL MABYLANB. 301 

against tlie president, aiipiication may be made 
by the accuser to one clerical and lay member of 
the standing committee, who shall have the same 
powers of calling the committee which are hereby 
given to the president in other cases/' 

"No vestryman shall sit on the examination or 
trial of a minister belonging to the parish where 
sncli vestryman resides. Complaints against a 
clergyman shall be received from the vestry of 
the parish where he officiates, and from no other 
lierson or persons whatsoever. They shall be 
signed by a majority of the vestrj^ and church 
wardens, without which no comj)laints shall be 
received, ttc, <S:c." 

Into such loose views of the true relations of 
the church and her clergy had Maryland at that 
time come. AVhat was the cause we do not know, 
how far the clergy had become derelict, how far 
there were crying evils abroad, how far they were 
merely bowing to the jealousies of the laity who 
dreaded an exercise of inherent prerogative in 
any class, or how far they were providing for a 
state of things that did not exist. Certainly 
however, the law was not found to work well. 
It did not bring the clergy to trial, so that Bishop 
Claggett had bitterly to "^bewail the condition of 
things in some instances where the vestry would 
not institute proceedings. Vestrymen were known 
to refuse to conqDlain against their x)as tors, what- 
ever grievance they thought they were enduring. 
The law was erroneous in fact also, for it will be 
found that the clergy are more jealous for the 
uprightness of their order than the laity are. 
These will gossip about clerical delinquences, but 
go no further; while the clergy feel every delin- 



y02 CHURCH LIFE 

qiiency a stain on their lioly order that ought to 
be removed, however long suffering they may 
feel disposed to be. 

A superintending committee was at the same 
time apx)ointed, five mcmhers for each shore, to 
whom the general duty of supervision of the 
church in the diocese was committed. They 
were to visit the parishes, dividing them amongst 
themselves. Also they had charge of candidates 
for orders, to ascertain their htness. Also to 
them was assigned the duty of receiving clergy- 
men entering the diocese, and no vestry or con- 
gregation could receive any minister unless he 
was able to present the testimonial from the 
sui:)erintending committee of their shore, that he 
had conformed to the lavv. 

This was the provisional arrangement of things 
in Maryland as finally instituted in 1788, and 
with all its faultiness it was effective to tide the 
"society'' over its then depressed condition. 
There was not a great deal of backbone then dis- 
played in various quarters; the sturdiness of 
Bisliop Seabury was not a general property, as is 
seen in the provisional arrangement suggested by 
Doctor, afterwards Bishop White. This arrange- 
ment which he advanced in his pamphlet of 
1782, "The case of the Episco2:)al Church consid- 
ered" in which an episcopal Church without 
episcopacy was thought for the time being avail- 
able, was something that found reponse in 
various quarters. "Ordainers for the ministry," 
were proposed in Maryland, and South Carolina 
wanted the Episcopal Church without a Bishoj). 
Nowhere did the church thoroughly understand 
herself or know her true i^osition, save maybe in 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. ;^0a 

New England and New York where tlie clergy 
liad liold on more vigorous ideas. Everywhere, 
however, she was working towards a knowledge 
of her true self Avhich Avas reached clearly after 
many days. May the Almighty, her Lord, ever 
preserve her in this knowlege. 



Turning now brielly to parochial affairs, there 
are a few things to note before we close our 
Images. One of these is the fact that this is the 
time when the fine parish libraries of Maryland, 
not always extensive in numbers, but excellent 
in quality, began to be scattered. Efforts were 
made to recover them, but failed, and they were 
lost one by one b}^ falling into hands that could 
not appreciate them, and were allowed to be' 
destroyed. The vestry no longer performed its 
function of ''visiting ' them, and possibly the 
the rectors no longer stood in dread of suit if 
they neglected the charge. There are many 
volumes in existence, and every now and then an 
old book comes to light from its hiding place in 
some out of the way garret. Some are still safe 
in the library of St. John's College, Annapolis, 
but in all other iilaces, the folios, quartoes, and 
octavos are things of the ^last with but little 
superior to them to take their ydace. 

The world has been a good deal disturbed 
within the last twenty five years upon the subject 
•of altar cloths, they being regarded as emble- 
matical of false and strange doctrine, just like 
the surplice was regarded as a "rag of jiopery." 
But like as in the matter of the surplice, the 
church in adopting altar cloths only went back 



304 CHURCH LIFE 

to old tilings. For in 1791 we find in St. James' 
parish that ''Dr. Claggett reported to this vestry 
that the vestry of All Saints' Parish, Calvert Co., 
had three yards of purple broadcloth for sale, 
which he thought would suit for a communion 
cloth, and hangings for the pulpit in this parish 
church, and that the price of the same was one 
guinea a yard. The vestry directed the doctor to 
purchase the same." Nor was it only in that kind 
of embellishment, for we find a church in Prince 
George's County adorned with a painting over 
the Holy Table. Our views doubtless have 
expanded beyond theirs, and ornamentation is* 
developed in a way that would make them wonder 
could their eyes be opened in one of our modern 
temples; but the root of the matter was tl^ere in 
very distinct form. Also we hear of a few 
organs, and one parish in 1763 levied two thou- 
sand pounds of tobacco to pay the organist. 

The church in Maryland has almost entirely 
lost her hold upon the colored people. In some 
of the more out of the way parts of the state they 
are still found to attend her services, especially 
upon notable occasions, and in some places, 
though very few, chapels have been erected for 
them. But in all districts nearer the great centers 
wdiere they are in frequent intercourse with the 
peox)le of the cities, their ambition seems to 
have been excited, and now for many years, since 
long before their emancipation, they have with- 
drawn from the church entirely. They desired 
to have their own institutions, to regulate their 
own concerns, may be to gratify their emotional 
temperament, and their masters gave them leave. 

During the colonial period, however, and after- 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 305 

wards this was not so, but the slave knelt at the 
same table with his master. In St. James' 
Parish in 1790 we find Dr. Claggett giving a list 
of the communicants, and out of the total of 
sixty-one we hnd thirteen ''Black Brethren;" 
and in 1791 we hnd the same "Black Communi- 
cants" applying to the vestry for a "piece of 
ground on the church giel)e adjoining the north- 
east corner of the church-yard, for a burying 
place for the said blacks and their descendants," 
which was granted. This may be to many a 
revelation of the condition of the slave at that 
time in Maryland. Appended to the list of com- 
municants as thus given, is the following note : 
"Our worthy brethren, Edward Tillard and 
Walter AYatson, members of our society and 
other congregations, were present and communi- 
cated with us this day." 

Dr. Claggett' s rectorship) of St. James' was a 
great blessing to the parish by the force of the 
same qualities that afterward made his episcopate 
a blessing to the diocese of Maryland. A strong, 
vigorous intellect and clear common sense always 
distinguished him, and fitted him in the eyes of 
all that came in contact Avith him, for leadership. 
His interest, too, in everything that concerned the 
welfare of the church in the commonwealth at 
large, had early been manifested, and his 
thoughtful attention to these things is nowhere 
so strikingly exemplied as in the records of the 
parish over whose counsels he presided and 
whose deliberations he guided. His forecast 
also of the future needs of his diocese, is seen in 
the impression which doubtless he created in the 
vestry, of the necessity for more than one Bislioj) 



306 CHURCH LIFE 

for Maryland. This was in 1790 when after the 
convention held that year in Easton, the minis- 
ters and church wardens were admitted to seats 
in the vestry. The effect also of his rectorship 
was permanent; for from his day the parish was 
marked by a deep active interest in all that 
concerned the church's welfare. 

It is painful, however, to remember that the 
church' s greatest depression had not been reached 
when he assumed the episcopate in 1792, either 
in his old parish or in the diocese at large. Ma- 
ryland was to see darker days than even these. 
The diocese, notwithstanding his labors, was to 
decline in its clerical force, doubtless because in 
all the parishes the ability of the people to suj)- 
port the holy work declined. They were hours 
of sadness, and anxiety about existence ; while 
also as an active cause of depression, the great 
Methodist movement that began at this time to 
show the elements of its vigorous power, carried 
off some of the choicer spirits among even the 
more influential people, together with a large 
part of the multitudinous poor who had never 
been taught to love the church. The schism was 
the more easily accomplished because church 
X^rinciples had never been duly understood, and 
because, it is to be feared, the memory of the old 
slanders was in too many instances sedulously 
fostered. 

Between his death, however, in 1816 and this 
present time, a period that one life spans, what 
mighty changes have been wrought in Maryland 
and throughout the land. The little one has be- 
come a thousand and the small one a strong na- 
tion. The Lord has hastened it in his time. For 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. m7 

tlieie is Still living one, and there have but re- 
cently passed away several, who remember Bishop 
Claggett'S venerable form and appearance, espe- 
cially on that solemn day when he returned to 
his old parish to minister for the last time, and 
when the mortal illness seized him that soon se- 
cured for him his eternal rest. 

The old parish of St. James, doubtless a type 
of many in Maryland, is truly crowded with sac- 
red memories, that hang about the sanctuary 
where holy men have ministered and holy saints 
have in their hearts and with their voices com- 
muned, and that hang no less about the habita- 
tions of the dead that encompass the sanctuary. 
For it was a line thought and a sacred desire that 
made our fathers in the long time past choose 
the church yard where their remains might lie. 
When the Angel of God comes to call, this chil- 
dren home, and the earth yields up its dead, 
there will be no jDlace so lilting for that waking 
hour as that spot where in the flesh our incense 
of prayer and praise had ascended up on high. 



808 CHURCH LIFE 



AUTHORITIES USED. 



Original Records of St. James Parish, A. A. Cc 
Maryland Mss. from Arcliives of Fnllianj. 
■Gov. Sharpe's letters in Ms. (copy.) 
Character of the province of Maryland, Also}). 
Early Friends in Maryland, Norris. 
Life of Geo. Fox, vol. II. 
Anderson's Colonial Chnrch History. 
Records of Piscataway parish, Md. 
Eddis' Letters. 

Grahanie's Colonial History of the U. S. 
Bancroft's History of U. S. 
Parish Histories in Ms. Dr. Allen. 
History St. Anne's i)arish. Dr. Allen. 
History of Maryland, Dr. Allen. 
Hawk's Ecclesiastical Contribntions, vol. II. 
History of Maryland, McMahon. 
History of Maryland, Bozman. 
Fonnders of Maryland, Neill. 
The Foundation of Maryland, Gen. B. T. Johns('! 
Narrative of a voyage to Maryland, Father Whii- 
Records of the English Province, S. J. Md.lette- ■ 
Laws of Maryland, Bacon. 
Archives of Maryland, Md. His. Soc. 
History of the Church of England, Perry. 



IN COLONIAL MARYLAND. 809 

.'otestant Episcopal Church in U. 8. of A. 

Spencer. 
KSIiort's History of the Church of England. 
llanke's History of the Popes. 
The Huguenots in France after the Revocation, 

Smiles. 
iSliort History of the English Peox)le, Green. 
•History of England, Macauley. 
History of England, Knight, 
"he Lords Baltimore, Morris. 
J'otes on Virginia Colonial Clergy, Neill. 
v/enlock, Chistison, &c., Sam. Harrison. 
Historical Sermon, Rev. W. C. Butler, 
Oration of Gen. Charles E. Phelps, Baltimore's 

one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, 
iarisli Institutions of Maryland, E. Ingle. 
Early Journals of the conventions of Maryland. 
Articles on .early American church history, J. Y. 

Lewis, I). D. 
Life of Bishop Claggett, J. N. Norton, D. D. 
John Adams the Statesman of the American 

Revolution, Hon. M. Chamberlain. 



CONTENTS. 



CONTENTS 



Act conccniiiig Religion, — G — 112. 
Arcbitecture in the colony, — 68. 
Anne, Queen, — 129. 
Alms-basin, — 170. 
Adorning the altar,— 170. 
Adams, Rev. Alex.— 256. 
Allen, Rev. B.— 262. 
Additional Constitutions, — 299. 
Altar-clotb,— 804. 

Baptism of Slaves, — 28. 

Bray, Rev. Dr. —52. 

Bisbop, efforts. to secure,— 52— 81 — 242— 267. 

Boundaries of St. James Parish,— 63. 

Bertrand, Rev. Paul, — 67. 

Butler, Bishop,— 136. 

Baltimore, Lord, the colony rcstoied to, — 143. 

Blasphemy, law of 1723,— 113— 167. 

Bacon, Rev. Thomas, — 179. 

Bachelors taxed,— 210— 234. 

Boston, sufferers. by fire in, — 45 — 221. 

Boucher, Rev. Mr ,—229—251. 

Conditions of Plantation, — 12. 



CONTENTS. 

V i^ode, Rev.. John,— 12. 
Camisavds, — 22. — 

Convict emigrants, — 88 — 127 — 207. 
^.Copley, Gov. —48. 
V/cmmissnry, office of, — 52, 
Cliapels of Ease, — 56. 
Gunstables, — 75. 
Oounters of tobacco, — 101. 
Comnuitation of currency, — 101. 
Convocation suspended, — 130. 
^eroy, their condition in England, — 132. 
' tlieir social status, — 133. 

of Maryland, supporters of prerogative,— 158. 
lurch Missionary Society, — 141. 
.lebatcli, Rev. Mr.,— 153. 

V larles, the sixth Lord Baltimore, — 155. 
Ceremonial in Ya., in 1724, — 166. 
Communicants, — 185. 

Chase, Rev. Mr.— 187. 

Cohabiting, — 195. 

Chandler, Rev. Dr.,— 216. 

Coventry parish, — 216. 

Clergy forbidden to asscDible, — 218—245, 

Churches built,— 228. 

(. ontract for St. James' church.— 230. 

Claggett, Rev. Dr,,— 284— 285— 304. 

Convention, annual meeting of, — 298. 

i.'ivision of parishes, — 56 — 99 — 148, 

.Donations, — 94, 

j^ifficulties between clergy and laity,— 98. 

Ducking-stool,— 122, 

Dulany, Dan., — 217. 

Donatives, parishes said to be,— 243. 

Declaration of Rights.— 254. 

Endowments, church,— 12. 



CONTENTS. 

EstablisbmeEt of iLe church,— 18. 

Act of— 24— 154— 248. 
" good effects wrought out by,— 33 

Ecclesiastical court,— 80— 154— 244— 299. 
Enquiries of 1717,— 87— 105. 
Eva)igelical school, — 137. 
——Education in the colony, — 163. 

Fires, none in churches,— 120— 197. 

Free schools,— 163. 

French war, effects of,— 207. * "' 

French Canadians,— 211. 

Frederick, Lord Baltimore,— 212— 267. \ 

Fundamental rights and liberties,- 287. | 

Fundamental principles,— 291 ( 

Glebes,- 94— 95. | 

Gibson, Bishop of London, — 181. { 

Hammond, — 10. 

Herring Creek parish,— 67. 

Hall, Rev. Henry,— 77. 

Hart, Governor, — 81. 

Henderson, Rev. Jacob, — 85 — 155. 

Induction, forms of,— 77— 158— 159— 188— 262— 266. 
Interlocutory Judgment <jf Council, — 192. 
Intruders punished, — 258. 

Jesuit Fathers, Records of,— 9— 13. 

'• " Take up lands, — 11. 

" Missionaries, — 143 
Jones, Rev. Hugh,— 71— 166. 

Kent Island, Settlement of,— 8. 
Kidnapping,— 39. 

Labadists, — 45. 

Libraries, Parish,— 53— 91— 95— 303. 



(JONTENTH. 

L->udon's, Bishop of, Authority, — 79. 

i ibrary of St. James' Parish,— 104. 

Liquor, use of, — 123. 

T ang. Rev. John,— 188— 202. 

T ike, Rev. Charles,— 223— 235. 

( . dty ill Church Conventions, — 29<5. 

V' jje, Henry, — 0. 
3 schanics in the Colony, — 71. 

Malatto Children, Property of the Clergy,— 72— 125. 
Money From Sale of Mulatto Children and Mothers,— 72. 
Methodists, — 1 37 . 
Magowan, Rev. Walter,— 260. 

Negroes, not Baptized,— 162. 

" Disturb the White People at Church,— 198 

" Communicants, — 199 — 305. 

• 
Organization of the Parish, — 01. 

Oiiths taken by Vestrymen, — 64—224 — 270. 

v)gle,lGovernor,— 184— 223. 

Offertory,— 194. 

Ordain ers to the Ministry, — 280. 

Protestant Catholics, — 9. 

Population,— 15— 35— 124— 185. 

Protestant Revolution, — 15. 

Popish Plot,— 22. 

Puritans, — 41. 

T*ulpit Cushion,— 73. 

Pew Locks, — 74. 

Priests, Roman, Good Influence of,— 127. 

Plate, Inventory of,— 203. 

Proclamation act,— 241. 

Parishes at the Revolution,— 250— 256. 

Petition to the Legislature in 1780,-280. 

Quakers, Population,- 23— 42. 



CONTENTS. 

Quakers of Pennsylvania, Missionaiy to be" sent to,— 58. 
" Good Influence of, — 137. 
" Descendants of, Indemnified in Mass., — 140. 
Spirit of,— 144. 

Revolt of 1681,— 14. 

Revocation of Edict of Nantes, — 14 — 31. 

Repairs on Churches, tax for, — 103. 

Ratio of Protestants to Roman Catholics, — 40. 

Roman Catholics, Treatment of,— 114— 110-309. 

Slaves in Maryland,— 38. 

Settlers in Maryland, from whence, — 36. 

" Majority of the first Protestant,— 40, 
Slave Trade,— 39— 177. 
School System of 1696,— 51. 
Service, Silver Communion, — 73. 
Seymour, Governor, — 8(?. 
Scepticism in the Colony, — 93 — 167 — 180. 
Sabbath Breaking, — 113. 
Stocks and Whipping Post,— 114— 196— 333. 
Stole and Surplice,— 136— 166— 334. 
Seeker, Archbishop,— 133— 306. 
Swift, Dean, — 133. 

Society for Propagating the Gospel, — 141. ■ 
Salaries, Reduction of, — 149 — 315. 
School Master for Sale,— 165. 
Sharpe, Governor,— 313— 331— 343. 
Select Vestries, 375. 
Standing Committee, — 397 — 300. 
Superintending Committee, — 303. 

Toleration in 1648,-10. 
Toleration, English Act of,— 36. 
Taney, Mary ,—13. 
Taxables,— 38. 
Tobacco, its Varying Price — 56. 



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CONTENTS. 

'• obacco, Amount Limited, — 169. 
. albot and Welton, Bishops, in Maryland,— 156. 
' ustian, Rev. Peter,--158. 
rindal— 179. 
'erret's, Nicholas, will,— 200. 

Irquhart. Rev. John,— 171. 

Vestry, Functions of, — 29, 

" Fined,— 170. 

" Ordered to Report to Council,— 194. 

" Act Agitation,— 248. 
\'isitation, Dr. Bray's, at Annapolis,— 57. 
violence Toward Clergy,— 154. 



Whites's Father, Narrative,— 8. 

Women, white with mulatto children, — 71. ' 

Walpole, Sir R.,— 130. 

Wesley, Rev. Sam.,— 136. • 

Wesley, Rev. John and Charles,— 136— 177, 

Whitfield,-136— 177. 

War, seven 5^ears, — 204. 

War, thirty j^ears, — 14. 

White, Bishop,— 302. 

^eo, Rev. John, — 13. 

Yale College, agitation on Episcopacy, — 141. 



"--'file Wasliingtoiir^- 
Life Iiisurarice Goiripariy. 

W. A. BREWER, Jr., President. 

W. HxlXTUN, - - V ice-President and Secretaiy 

CYRUS MUNN, - - - Assistant Secretary 

E. S. FRENCH, - - Superintendent of Agencies 

I. C. PIERSON, . - - . . Actuary 

B. W. McCREADY, M. ]). - - - Medical Examiner 

FOSTER & THOMSON - - - Attorneys 

The dividends of The Washington are deemed to be the inalienable 
property of the policy-holder, and are applied, at the option of the 
Insured, in one of several ways : 

1st. The dividends of The WASHINGTON may be applied to the pay- 
ment of the premium. 

2d. If not so applied, they purchase additional insurance. 

3d. If used to purchase additional insurance, they are recnnvertible 
into cash for their original amount. 

4th. If the premium be unpaid when due, the whole of the cash 
lividend to the credit of a policy is applied to continue the insurance for 
vh© full amount, as so much premium until exhausted. 

5th. The fact that a policy has dividends to its credit is authority for 
his Company, by virtue of the policy contract, to apply their full cash 
/alue to the payment of premium irithotit icritten diiections from the pa ty 
'nsured. 

6th. A policy in The Washington while held by dividends may be 
!ontinued without medical re-examination, by payment of the balance of 
*he premium due. 

DANIEL GRANT EMORY, Gen'l Agent, 

8 P. O. Ave., Balto., Md. 



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